Halina Poon Suk-han ( zh, t=潘淑嫻) is a

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

educational worker, currently serving as a

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

Election Committee The Election Committee is a Hong Kong electoral college, the function of which is to select the Chief Executive (CE) and, since 2021, to elect 40 of the 90 members of the Legislative Council. Established by Annex I of the Basic Law of Hong ...

, which is responsible for electing the

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

Education career

Poon is the founding principal of

Christian and Missionary Alliance Sun Kei Secondary School Christian and Missionary Alliance Sun Kei Secondary School () is a Secondary School which is located in 6 Tong Chun Street, Tseung Kwan O, Hong Kong. This school is proclaimed by Christian and Missionary Alliance Hong Kong Association to organiz ...

. She was promoted to the chairlady of the Hong Kong Subsidized Secondary Schools Council from vice-chair in 2016, and stepped down in 2020. Poon is also the member of the Council of the

City University of Hong Kong City University of Hong Kong (CityU) is a world-class public research university located in Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong. It was founded in 1984 as City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and became a fully accredited university in 1994. Currently, CityU is ...

. She had previously served as the courtier of the

University of Hong Kong The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...

until 2020, and sat in a number of commissions of the Hong Kong Government as members. Poon was awarded the Medal of Honour by HKSAR Government in 2007 in recognition of her enthusiastic participation in educational and social affairs. In February 2022, it is announced that Poon will become the principal of

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

Nansha Minxin School for Hong Kong Children starting from September 2022. The primary-and-secondary school is founded by

Leung Chun-ying Leung Chun-ying (; born 12 August 1954), also known as CY Leung, is a Hong Kong politician and chartered surveyor, who has served as vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference since Mar ...

, Hong Kong's former Chief Executive and vice-chairman of

Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, zh, 中国人民政治协商会议), also known as the People's PCC (, ) or simply the PCC (), is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of ...

Political stance

Poon was regarded as

pro-Beijing The pro-Beijing camp, pro-establishment camp, pro-government camp or pro-China camp refers to a political alignment in Hong Kong which generally supports the policies of the Beijing central government and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) t ...

after joining the newly formed establishment-leaning teacher's group Education Professional Alliance in 2021. The Election Committee is also described as skewing the pro-Beijing camp. Poon ran in the 2021 Election Committee Subsector elections as a candidate from the Alliance, and was elected with the highest vote amongst other candidates in the Education subsector. She subsequently became an electorate for electing the Hong Kong deputies to the

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2, ...

of China. During her tenure as Subsidized Secondary Schools Council chair, large-scale protests erupted in the city. Poon was criticised for not signing a petition for an independent commission of inquiry. She later supported an independent commission of inquiry but on the arrest of teenagers. In the speech, she called on the Hong Kong authorities to rescue the institutions and livelihood, and hoped the Chinese Government not to give up on Hong Kong. She also claimed the fear of China for suppressing freedom of speech stems from

bandwagon effect The bandwagon effect is the tendency for people to adopt certain behaviors, styles, or attitudes simply because others are doing so. More specifically, it is a cognitive bias by which public opinion or behaviours can alter due to particular acti ...

. She had contacted the police after "

Glory to Hong Kong "Glory to Hong Kong" ( zh, t=願榮光歸香港) is a march that was composed and written by a musician under the pseudonym "Thomas dgx yhl", with the contribution of a group of Hongkonger netizens from the online forum LIHKG during the 201 ...

", the iconic song during protests, was heard from near the school she led.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poon, Halina Living people School principals and headteachers Hong Kong pro-Beijing politicians Year of birth missing (living people) Hong Kong Christians Members of the Election Committee of Hong Kong, 2021–2026