HK principal who swore at S'pore security guards during school trip gets suspended, police report filed

The Hong Kong secondary school principal who was filmed scolding and swearing at two security guards during a school trip in Singapore has reportedly been suspended.

According to the South China Morning Post, Edmund Wong Chun-sek, a former lawmaker and manager of San Wui Commercial Society Secondary School in Tuen Mun, said the decision was made after the school board concluded his conduct "fell short of public expectations".

The management committee was said to have made the decision on May 26 after hearing accounts from the principal and staff members who were present during the trip.

The school’s vice-principal will serve as interim acting principal, Now News reported.

Background

The principal has since been identified by Hong Kong media outlet HK01 as Lee Cheuk-hing.

The school had brought 34 students to Singapore from May 20 to 24 for an economics and technology research trip, according to Edu Lancet.

The video

The incident allegedly occurred around 6pm on May 22, when the group arrived at a restaurant in Jurong for a meal.

The tour bus had reportedly stopped along a stretch of road marked with double yellow lines, prompting security staff at the venue to ask the driver to park in a designated area.

In the video, the security personnel can be heard telling the bus to "go behind", to which the man responded by telling them to "shut up".

He went on to swear at them in Cantonese, including the use of a vulgar term for female genitalia, before making faces at them and taunting them to board the bus.

A woman standing behind him attempted to intervene, but he ignored her.

The incident drew public outrage, and Hong Kong's Education Bureau demanded on May 24 that the school "seriously follow up on the issue and submit a detailed written account".

It also said it had reached out to both the school and its sponsoring body, adding that it would stay in close contact with the school to provide guidance.

"If a teacher were found to have breached professional conduct, the bureau would review the teacher's registration and take appropriate action based on the nature and severity of the incident," a bureau spokesperson said.

On May 26, SAFRA confirmed that an incident involving a bus and its appointed security personnel had taken place at its Jurong recreational club on May 22, The Straits Times reported.

Its appointed security company has since lodged a police report.