British activist fighting for Hong Kong's poor dies at 102

Elsie Tu fought against rampant corruption during British rule.

Hong Kong social activist Elsie Tu, who died Dec. 8 at 102, being conferred an honorary doctorate degree by the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2013. (Photo supplied by CUHK)

Hong Kong:  British-born social activist and former missionary Elsie Tu died Dec. 8 in Hong Kong, a place where she served the underprivileged for more than half a century. She was 102.

Tu, called the people's champion by local media, was particularly remembered for her fight against rampant corruption in the former British colony, especially in the police force. Her anti-graft efforts partly led to the establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption in 1974.

She was regarded as one of the earliest democracy supporters in Hong Kong. In 1966, she published a booklet titled "Another Colonial Problem in the Making" complaining that local Chinese were not represented in the Legislative Council.

As an Urban Councilor in the 1960s, Tu "was the only person who had the influence and who supported the poor at a time there were no other NGOs doing this job, said Father Franco Mella, a social activist.

"For a lot of older people like me, Elsie is the only person worthy of the epithets 'Hong Kong's conscience' and 'mother of democracy,'" wrote veteran politician Lau Nei-keung in a commentary for the China Daily in 2013 on Tu's 100th birthday.

"Elsie was one of the very few British people who fought against the injustices of the British colonial government toward the Hong Kong people, and she fought the hardest," he said.

In 1947, Tu arrived in China's Jiangxi province with her first husband as a Protestant missionary. They were expelled to Hong Kong four years later due to political turmoil.

In Hong Kong she established the Mu Kuang English School in 1955 with her second husband Andrew Tu. She also fought for housing, transportation and legal rights for the poor.

Iris Siu recalled going to Tu for help over her housing problem "because she was known to be a righteous person among us grassroots."

When she was criticized for increasingly being pro-Beijing in her later years, Tu said, "I'm not for China, I'm not for Britain. I've always been for the people of Hong Kong and for justice."

Source: UCAN