Founder of ethnic minority NGO Unison says she supports move to disband after director called decision ‘irresponsible’
Hong Kong Free Press
The founder of Unison, an NGO serving the city’s ethnic minorities, has said she supports the board’s decision to wind up the organisation after its former executive director slammed the decision as “irresponsible.”
Fermi Wong, a registered social worker who founded Unison in 2001 and left in 2013, said in a Facebook post on Saturday that finding an executive director to lead an organisation’s advocacy work in “today’s Hong Kong” had become “increasingly difficult.”
“If the original mission and vision of Hong Kong Unison can no longer be upheld, I would rather see it ‘break as jade than remain intact as tile’ – choosing voluntary liquidation over being exploited by opportunists for personal or political gain,” she wrote.
Wong – who now lives in the UK – said she was not involved in the NGO’s work over the years, but many supporters of the ethnic minority community had shared with her “their dissatisfaction with the final Executive Director.” She was referring to John Tse, the NGO’s last director before it announced the disbandment.
In response, Tse said in a statement issued on Saturday afternoon that the group could just fire him instead of closing down the organisation if his performance was poor.
“If I performed so poorly, why [did Unison] renewed my contract half a year ago,” Tse wrote in Chinese,” If I performed so poorly, who not just fire me? You can just change the executive director, there is no need to disband Unison.”
Tse added that he had demanded “depoliticising” Unison soon after he started to lead the NGO two years and half a year ago. He said he believes Unison should carry on its job of monitoring policies and Hong Kong’s services related to ethnic minorities.
‘Historical mission accomplished’
The board of Unison passed a motion in a 16-to-1 vote last Friday to begin the process of winding up after 24 years of service, saying “its historical mission has been successfully accomplished.”
Chairperson Alice Chong told reporters following a special general meeting that the decision was not related to financial or political reasons. She added that talk of disbanding had been ongoing for “two to three years.”
Immediately after the announcement, Tse and Javria Khalid, a project officer who joined Unison two years ago, held a separate press conference, accusing Unison of lacking transparency and consultation with employees, volunteers, donors, and the broader ethnic minorities community before reaching its decision.
Tse said that Unison had not come under political pressure, and that its savings were enough to support the operation for the next 18 months. He expressed confusion about the real reason for the closure.
“The reason was unconvincing, even absurd,” he said. ”It certainly is an irresponsible decision.”
Tse and Khalid were both dismissed last Friday.
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