Junius Ho

In 2011, Junius Ho was bestowed with an Honorary Doctor of Laws by Anglia Ruskin University, with the university describing him as an "outstanding ambassador".[7][8] After the 2019 Yuen Long attack, an online petition via Change.org was launched urging Anglia Ruskin University to reconsider the honorary award, and the university was notified after the petition reached 500 signatures on 25 July 2019. On 26 October, Lord Alton of Liverpool published a letter addressed to the vice-chancellor of Anglia Ruskin University, requesting the university to consider removing Ho's honorary doctorate, citing alleged examples of "misogyny", "extremism" and "racism".[9] On 28 October 2019, at the urging of activist Luke de Pulford[10] Anglia Ruskin University withdrew Ho's honorary degree following an investigation, with a statement from the university noting, "Mr Ho's conduct since he was honoured has caused increasing concern."[11][12]

On 6 December 2019, Ho received an honorary law doctorate at the China University of Political Science and Law for his "outstanding contribution and achievements in the legal sector".[12]

On 6 November 2019, in preparation for the 2019 Hong Kong local elections, Junius Ho ran a campaign event in Tuen Mun. He was approached by a man posing as a supporter, who attacked him with a 33-centimetre-long knife that left him bleeding in the chest.[23] The attacker was shortly subdued. Ho was briefly hospitalized.[24][25][26]

Ho has made several controversial statements regarding issues related to the LGBT community. In late April 2017, following a lawsuit on government benefits for civil workers who are in a same-sex relationship, Ho said that the legalization of same-sex marriage in Hong Kong would lead to the acceptance of bestiality and incest.[27] Ho's remarks were criticized by other LegCo members.[27] For instance, Raymond Chan, an openly gay then-member of LegCo, strongly condemned Ho's comments.[27]

In May 2017, Ho said that a ruling granting marriage benefits to a gay civil servant could lead to "chaos in society" and co-signed a petition asking the government to appeal the decision.[28] In April 2018, Ho became the only legislator to vote against the appointments of foreign judges Brenda Hale and Beverley McLachlin to the Court of Final Appeal over their support of same-sex rights, claiming the two opposed traditional family values.[29]

In June 2021, commenting of Hong Kong's hosting of the Gay Games, Ho said that that people 'should not let gays sideline '"natural people"'.[30] He also called the Games “disgraceful”, saying any revenue generated from the event would be “dirty money”. He followed up with further homophobic remarks, saying: “It is your business what you do in your own room, but if you go out and do it in public, it’s disgraceful”.[31]

In February 2022, Ho again criticized same-sex marriage, this time saying it could breach the national security law.[32] Ho, in January 2022, similarly brought up the national security law to attack those advocating the "living with Covid" strategy.[33]

In April 2023, Ho protested against the Gay Games and said "We must think from the perspective of national security and prevent people from using the Gay Games to once again destroy Hong Kong."[34]

In June 2017, Junius Ho became the only pro-establishment lawmaker to vote in favour of a motion to memorialize the 4 June 1989 massacre of Tiananmen Square protestors at the Legislative Council. He expressed sympathy for the Chinese students before the People's Liberation Army crackdown.[35] However, Ho also criticized pro-democracy legislators for describing the government of mainland China as 'cold-blooded'. Eddie Chu criticized Ho's position as unclear and absurd, and compared him to Yuan Mu, a Chinese politician who in an interview with Tom Brokaw in 1989 claimed that there were no casualties during the crackdown in Tiananmen Square.[36]

Ho was a leading critic of legal scholar Benny Tai's Occupy Central with Love and Peace which suggested a full-scale occupation protest in the form of civil disobedience to press the Beijing government to make concessions on electoral reform. He set up an anti-Occupy group called "Protect Central" which he said would resist the Occupy campaign.[37]

In August 2017, Ho called for the removal of Tai, who was then facing charges of inciting others to incite public nuisance, from working at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Vice-Chancellor Peter Mathieson and council chairman Arthur Li rejected the call. Ho submitted a petition, appearing to have the support of over 80,000, urging the university to investigate Tai and organised a rally on 17 September calling for his removal.[38][39][40] Ho acknowledged that the number of people digitally signing the petition was unverifiable.[41] As to the legality of the rally, Ronny Tong Ka-wah pointed out that the Public Order Ordinance may have been violated.[42]

In September 2017, Ho said supporters of Hong Kong independence ought to be "killed mercilessly". He made the comment at a rally which he organised to demand that the University of Hong Kong fire Benny Tai. He stated that it was "not a big deal to kill pigs or dogs", and also appeared on a Commercial Radio programme, where he said of pro-independence activists, "Why shouldn't these people be killed?" In response to backlash over these remarks, Ho said "If we’re talking about Hong Kong independence, that means war. What's wrong with killing enemies in a war?"[43] Ho's remarks were condemned by figures on all sides of the political spectrum.[44] Senior Counsel Ronny Tong said that Ho's comments may have violated the Public Order Ordinance. Chief executive Carrie Lam alluded to Ho's comments when she stated on 19 September that "unacceptably cruel, insulting and intimidating comments" had no place in a civilised society.[45] Executive Council member Regina Ip called Ho's remarks "stupid", and continued, "It will do our country no good to have stupid 'patriots', including possibly quite a few hired to become 'patriots'."[46] The 22 lawmakers from the pro-democracy camp issued a joint statement condemning Ho's remarks, which read in part: "Ho, as a legislator and lawyer, expressed hate speech involving murder at a public event, crossing the bottom lines of free speech and morality and severely breaching professional conduct."[47]

Ho maintained that he was expressing his contempt at the pro-independence movement, and said that the journalists should not take his words out of context.[43]

In February 2021, Ho asked the Hong Kong government to order banks to re-open bank accounts of those sanctioned under United States Executive Order 13936, even though doing so would cause banks to risk losing their licenses and ability to process US Dollars.[48]

In January 2022, Ho claimed that people advocating "living with Covid" could be in breach of the National Security Law.[33] One day later, the government shortly responded that Ho's statement was not true.[49]

In November 2022, after Glory to Hong Kong was played after a rugby match, Ho said that the Hong Kong Rugby team "let their country be insulted" and should be disbanded.[50]

On 25 April 2018, it was reported that Ho's family business holds the ownership of 120,000 square feet of farmland southwest of the Fanling Golf Course. Ho had previously voted against a motion to request the government to seize the golf course for housing redevelopment, but did not declare any potential conflict of interests. Ho responded that the motion did not impact his family business and therefore reporting his interests was not required.[51] On 2 May 2018, lawmaker, Andrew Wan, filed a complaint to the legislative committee accusing Ho of failing to declare two properties that is associated to his family's company, Profit Trade Investment Ltd and other subsidiaries. One of which was an apartment located at Sham Shui Po that was allegedly sold at four times its estimated value. Wan alleged that there could potentially be a conflict of interest if related issues come up in the legislative council.[52] On 5 May 2018, Ho admitted that Profit Trade had ownership of his family assets, but maintained that the company does not involve any conflict of interest in the Legislative Council and therefore such interests need not to be disclosed.[53]

Prior to the 2019 Yuen Long attack, Ho was filmed supporting and congratulating a group of white-clad men.[54] When confronted about his alleged involvement in the Yuen Long Attack, Ho claimed that he was simply there greeting some of his supporters, and said it was normal because he lives in Yuen Long.[55] After the incident, Ho said that the white-clad men were only "defending their home and people".[55] On 22 July 2019 Ho's constituency shopfront in Tsuen Wan was turned into a Lennon Wall before being ransacked later in the day.[56] Ho's Tuen Mun office also attracted protests on the following day.[57]

In response to Ho's alleged involvement, over 2,300 teachers, alumni and students from Ho's alma mater Queen's College participated in a signature campaign condemning Ho. They urged LegCo members to impeach Ho, and requested Queen's College Old Boys' Association to suspend his membership.[58][57] Similarly, Lingnan University students have started a petition calling for Ho to be removed from the institution's governing council. An online petition requesting that the United States bar Ho and his family from entering the U.S. or acquiring U.S. citizenship achieved over 100,000 signatures.[57]

On 23 July 2019, Ho appeared on an RTHK televised forum alongside fellow New Territories West constituency representative Eddie Chu. Ho said he did not regret shaking hands with the attackers. He called the victims of the Yuen Long attacks "rioters" and claimed they had instigated the violence. He said the mobs were mere "Yuen Long residents" seeking to "protect their homeland". After Chu stated that protesters could not remain calm if the government continued to ignore their requests (e.g. to formally withdraw the extradition bill), Ho called Chu a "scum" who "did not deserve to be a lawmaker" while storming off stage, ending the interview.[57][59]

Later, when Ho's parents' graves were vandalized, Ho accused Chu and his supporters for the damage. In one of Ho's video postings on social media, it was reported that Ho warned Chu in Cantonese that he has two paths to choose from. One of which is "a path of being alive, (and the other) is a path of not being alive."[60] Chu dismissed the threat and stated that it was merely Ho's style of talking. Chu, however, added that it was also a way for Ho to lead his supporters into believing that he was culpable for the damage to Ho's parents' tomb.[61]

During a 2019 Legislative Council meeting, Ho made a remark directed toward fellow Legislative Council member Claudia Mo, stating that she is used to "eating foreign sausage". Mo, who is married to English journalist Philip Bowring, later told the council that the comment amounts to racism and sexual harassment.[62] Ho refused to apologise and was expelled from the meeting.[63]

In January 2021, Ho blamed the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests on CUHK and likened its students to Al-Queda members, stating "What I see from this picture - I thought Al-Qaeda changed its registered office to CUHK."[64]

On 5 January 2022, Carrie Lam announced new warnings and restrictions against social gathering due to potential COVID-19 outbreaks.[65] One day later, it was discovered that Ho attended a birthday party hosted by Witman Hung Wai-man, with 222 guests.[66][67][68] At least one guest tested positive with COVID-19, causing all guests to be quarantined.[68] Ho later claimed that the real issue was not the party, but the government's policy of allowing aircrew from Cathay Pacific to quarantine at home.[69] Ho also claimed that he was a victim of the incident, saying "We are the victims of the policy", and also said that nobody could have predicted the risk of coronavirus exposure from the event, despite earlier warnings from the government to not gather in large groups.[69][65] Ho also said he was "illegally detained" at the quarantine center, and that Carrie Lam should resign.[70]