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Kahon Chan

Olga Wong

Former Hong Kong opposition lawmaker Shiu Ka-chun has died at the age of 55 after a battle with stomach cancer.
The career social worker died at 12.41am on Friday surrounded by family and friends, according to a post on his Instagram account.
“[Shiu] suffered from complications after gastric cancer surgery,” his wife Kelly said.
“Although he experienced hardships on the hospital bed, he always persevered and felt the guidance and care of the Heavenly Father, which enabled him to maintain inner peace even in difficult circumstances.
“Arrangements for the funeral service will be announced later.”
In a social media post last year, Shiu said he experienced gastrointestinal discomfort in October that was later diagnosed as stomach cancer.

He underwent emergency surgery at Queen Elizabeth Hospital to remove half of his stomach and lost 15kg (33lbs) of weight as a result. Shui shared pictures of himself on a hospital bed praying before eating.
Shiu was discharged 16 days after the procedure, but had to be admitted to hospital again in late December after a doctor told him his condition “got very bad”.
On Monday, Shiu posted a photo from a hospital bed, followed by a screenshot of a text message exchange between a pastor and an unknown person that read: “[Shiu] cannot talk right now, waiting for some lab reports.”
Shiu then said in his last Instagram story a day later that he began to receive palliative care.
Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung, a former opposition lawmaker and social welfare veteran who relocated to Canada in 2022, mourned the passing of his “best partner in the social welfare sector and social movements”.
“Shiu is a man of great talent … He speaks sharply and with witty remarks, which often cause laughter in lectures while making students reflect. He is a natural orator. His concern for the disadvantaged, his commitment to social justice and his contributions to prisoners’ rights will live on forever,” Cheung wrote in a social media post.
The two opposition figures had been featured together in a campaign leaflet in the 2016 election, and Cheung said they shared common interest in a wide range of welfare and youth policy issues.
“We are deeply heartbroken that Shiu passed away young, but I believe that the best way to commemorate him is to carry on practising the values he embodies,” he said. “His words, voice, image and his humanistic spirit will always be with me.”
The former social work lecturer at Baptist University was one of the 10 key figures of Hong Kong’s Occupy movement in 2014 who pledged to turn themselves in as part of the original plan.
He was jailed for eight months in 2019 for his role in the 79-day protest that called for universal suffrage. But in a 2022 interview with the Post, the former lawmaker struck a defiant tone in summing up the 2014 movement: “We had prepared to lose but we won’t collapse … I believe in the ripples caused by the movement.”
Shiu won a seat in the Legislative Council representing the social work constituency in 2016, but was unable to seek re-election due to the conviction tied to the Occupy movement. The university refused to renew his lecturing contract in July 2020 without giving reasons, a move that he described at the time as “political persecution”.
In December 2020, as scores of anti-government protesters were sent to jail, Shiu established not-for-profit prisoners’ rights group Wall-fare to promote the well-being of inmates struggling with emotional or physical challenges.
Wall-fare also coordinated a letter-writing campaign to help those sympathetic to the inmates pass along words of encouragement and maintain “a bridge of communication” between those inside and outside prison.
But he disbanded the group in September 2021 after security minister Chris Tang Ping-keung suggested that people in custody on national security-related charges were building up new forms of resistance to the government through establishing links with outside organisations.
Shiu, who completed a master’s degree in Christian studies in November, had continued to support inmates in a personal capacity and attended hearings of a landmark national security trial involving 47 opposition figures last year.
Figo Chan Ho-wun, former convenor of the now-disbanded Civil Human Rights Front, thanked Shiu for his dedication and assistance in helping the families of the 47 figures and those accused in other riot trials.
“He and I divided the work to help contact family members and arrange supplies, so that they could have a little warmth during times of confusion,” Chan wrote on his social media account.
“Who would have thought that this would also be accused of harming national security?”
Chan also reflected on the past infighting within the opposition camp, writing: “In the past, we did tend to criticise those who worked hard, but rarely encouraged, supported or thanked them … It was not until recent years that we realised that there are fewer and fewer of them, we began to reflect on the past.
“I hope everyone will cherish those who are still contributing, and give them more encouragement, support and attention.”


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Shiu, who underwent a procedure to remove half of his stomach in November, died at 12.41am on Friday


Shiu, who underwent a procedure to remove half of his stomach in November, died at 12.41am on Friday.


Hong Kong politics

Ex-Hong Kong opposition lawmaker Shiu Ka-chun dies at 55 after cancer battle

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Shiu, who underwent a procedure to remove half of his stomach in November, died at 12.41am on Friday

Shiu, who underwent a procedure to remove half of his stomach in November, died at 12.41am on Friday