Background

The Poly U Beijing Business Law Tour ('the Tour') was organised by the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong
which offered an opportunity for university students to enjoy a 4-day interflow tour  in Beijing, during which there
would be visits to Chinese universities and relevant organisations.

In view of the recent highly infectious SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), The Alfonsa decided to
submitted the issue to allies for their references.

Date 

26 March 2003

Issue 

Whether The Alfonsa should continue to join the tour or not.

Decision

1. That whether to go or not is a matter of balancing the pros and cons, and a matter within the self sovereign of the Alfonsa;

2. The Alfonsa would not join the tour.

Panel:

The Alfonsa, Art Lo SA, Ada Lam SA, Kevin Poon SA, Eric Ko SA, Robin Law PA, TT Suen PA, Sandy Ng PA,
Winnie, Nash Lee

Judgments *:

Per The Alfonsa:

- examining the whole tour and the chain of events preceding the trip, the most risky part is, to be precise, travelling on the airplane in question, and not the trip itself.
- there is and has always been no souund reason why I should participate in the trip.  Mere leisure and enjoyment are insufficiently good reasons to justify the participation.
- there is always a risk of health: aa risk of being infected, no matter how likely or unlikely it is.  Even one minute possibility should be viewed seriously because if one so unfortunately get infected, the consequences are not only borne by the patient him- or herself, but also his or her parents and friends, as well as all those who care about him or her.  So the likelihood of risk should be taken very seriously, and even one single possibility of infection should be avoided.
- there is currently no effective curre to the SARS, and it is highly uncertain as to whether the authorities can have control over the disease in the near future.  It is not known whether Beijing is a risky place to go or not.
- The Alfonsa is aware of the argumennt that even if stay in Hong Kong, there will still be a risk of infection.  Nevertheless, the Alfonsa is of opinion that if we stay in Hong Kong and do the usual, routine things (eg travel on no.23 bus to school) , it will only be unfortunate if we catch the disease, and there is no one we can blame, because we just live as we used to.  The situation is radically different if we go to Beijing, a place full of uncertainties and risks.  At most, if there is not risk at all, we only enjoy a trip, but nothing more than the value of amenities.
- Staying in Hong Kong will also alloow us more free time to focus on such important jobs as job-hunting and coursework assignments
- in conclusion, the Alfonsa should nnot go.

Per Art Lo SA:

- it is entirely a decision to be made by oneself, and in the light of the fact that the air service provider will be same of that which was recently reported to have spreaded the disease, it is highly risky to travel on that airplane
- hence, it is not necessary to deal with the question as to whether it is risky to continue with the tour, given that the most risky part is to travel by the airplanes highly doubtful as to their reliability.

Per Ada Lam SA:

- intention of the participants should be the central determinant of the issue as to whether to go or not
- personally, it is perfectly OK to vvisit a place where there had not been any official prohibition or advise to the contrary
- it is necessary to remember that suuch a tour, albeit very precious a chance, is not to only way we can visit Bejiing, nor does it appear that it is the only study/exchange tour one can participate in.  In other words, since it is likely that there are still other chances to join like tours, giving up this tour does not seem to cause great loss to The Alfonsa.

Per Eric Ko SA:

- the SARS problem is not that serious and I would personally not worry about it
- hence, if I were the Alfonsa, I will continue with the tour
- also, the Alfonsa should be drawn tto attention that the Beijing SARS event was out of some peculiar tour-mates in the same plane, and hence it is not as risky as one may think travelling to Beijing at this moment.

Per Kevin Poon SA:

- it seems very clear that there is no good reason to join the tour in the first place, it follows that in such a critical situation such a reason cannot survive or stand, therefore, prima facie, the Alfonsa should not go
- in deciding on the issue, it requirres a balancing exercise which seeks to weight the reason and risk of going on the one hand, and reason for staying and other advantages on the other.
- The Alfonsa's health should be veryy decisive in this issue: as one would expect, The Alfonsa is not a strong man, and given this as premise, he should not go if there is a real risk of being infected if go on with the tour.

Per Robin Law PA:

- if I were the Alfonsa, I will surely go because I am confident that I will not be infected
- but since The Alfonsa is very worried about the health risk involved, it appears that he should not go

Per Sandy Ng PA:

- one point to note is that staying in Hong Kong cannot help avoid infection of SARS, it follows that going to Beijing may not necessarily involve great risk of infection, since there has not been any official proclamation about the risk of going there
- also, Beijing has by far lesser number of people which had been infected with the SARS and hence in my opinion, there would not be any problem going on the trip.

Per Ting-ting Suen PA:

- to me, attending classes is of utmost important and hence running lessons is a condomnable act
- the Alfonsa should beware of a number of factors, including: that the source of the disease is still not known, that the number of people infected is not known, that the trip only takes several days which means it may not be that worth taking the risk
- one last but not the least point iss that the Alfonsa is not strong in terms of his health, and it is therefore highly undesirable to go on the trip in view of the poor medical facilities and conditions in the Mainland, eg Hangzhou Municipal Chinese Medical Hospital.

Per Winnie (Ally Ordinary)  & Nash Lee (CAS Constituency):

- I am not convinced that there is already effective cure for the SARS as the government so claimed. (per Winnie)
- there seems to be no good reason too go.

* all judgments are not original text and words, no guarantee for accuracies and pologies for misunderstanding of meaning


[ back ]   to the main page