Edward Yum

Edward Yum

Edward Yum Liang Hsien

Edward Yum Liang Hsien (任亮憲), with the nickname ”Grassmud Ma” (馬草泥), was born in Hong Kong on January 11, 1979.

Edward completed his middle school in Diocesan Boys School (DBS) and pursued his high school study at Waubonsie Valley High School, USA. Edward obtained the Bachelor in Finance from the University of Illinois. He was an active member of the debate teams throughout his school life and hence laid an excellent foundation in his eloquent debate and negotiation skills.

Career

Graduated from University of Illinois (USA), Edward has served many reputable financial institutions in Chicago and Hong Kong including Harris Bank (subsidiary of Bank of Montreal), HSBC, Equity Trust, and Hang Seng Bank. Before joining a renowned trust company in Hong Kong in February 2008, Edward assisted clients in establishing trusts as well as providing accounting/administrative services to private funds with billion dollars of assets.

Having earned the TEP certificate and qualification for being an FDIC trainer in the United States, Edward teaches one of the CFP/advanced bankers' diploma in China. Edward has been a member of AIMA HK and sat on the Education Committee of Hong Kong Venture Capital and Private Equity Association.

Political career

Edward's interest in politics was influenced by his father, Yum Sin Ling, former Legislative Councillor and the Founding Chairman of a Hong Kong pro-Taiwan political group, the “123 Democratic Alliance”. In 2010, Edward shared that his father did not initially support the de facto referendum launched by the Civic Party and League of Social Democrats, but Edward successfully convinced his father and gained his support eventually.

Edward is also best known as the 'Victoria Park Brother' for his fiery and outspoken contributions on the RTHK Sunday programme “City Forum” which was supposed to be the vehicle for civil discussion among scholars, officials, community representatives and members of the public especially for the "old men". The City Forum was never meant to be a place for heated discussions until the participation of Edward starting in the end of 2009. An appreciative audience applauded every time when Yum showed up and challenged the pro Beijing guests and the pro-establishments with his eloquent speeches.

In addition, because Edward often wears red when attending the City Forum, he is also widely named as the "Boy in Red” (紅衫仔).

In 2010, Edward was elected the Man of the Year (third place) in the Icon of the Year 2010 conducted by RTHK, ranked right after the Nobel Peace Prize Winner Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波) and the famous Chinese activist Zhao Lianhai (趙連海).

He then became active in the Hong Kong social movements and was the Convenor of the "Voice HK" (全民發聲) and "Victoria Park Action” (維園行動). He joined one of the most prominent political parties, “League of Social Democracy” (LSD) on May 4, 2010, and was elected as one of the executive members on July 25. In early 2011, he left LSD, and set up another political party, the “People Power” with Legislative Councillors Mr. Raymond Wong Yuk-man, Mr. Albert Chan Wai-yip and others.

In early 2012, Edward rendered his resignation from the post of executive committee member of the People Power.

Activated the City Forum

Edward’s first appearance at the City Forum was December 20, 2009. The cause of his show up was his dissatisfactory of the speech given by one of the guest speakers, Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) member Liu Mengxiong (劉夢熊) on the political reform and functional constituencies. Edward immediately departed from his home and went to the Victoria Park to attend the Forum. He stated firmly and loudly to all attendees and Mr. Liu, "To achieve universal suffrage, it is a must to completely abolish the functional constituencies." Subsequently, Edward attended the City Forum almost every Sunday, and earned the nickname "Victoria Park Brother".

The program has long been dominated by the old men while the young audience was not eager to speak much. But with the appearance of Edward , his sharp rhetoric skill had hit the nail on the head of the pro-establishment guests. Edward has also spoken to the media that his purpose of attending the Forum is to get back the platform of discussion and uphold the freedom of speech.

Later, he hosted an online talk show, “City Forum Again”, at My Radio.

Controversy

Indecent speculation

Edward criticized the Government's housing policy and urged to build more public houses and resumption of HOS at the City Forum on May 9, 2010. However, Edward was found to have sold two properties in 2010 and earned more than a million dollars. Hence, he was being criticized of having double standard which took the opportunity to invest and earned a fortune in the property market while at the same time criticized the Government's housing policy that prevent people to purchase houses at a reasonable market price.

Alleged in making false statement in owing asset management license

In 2010, Edward claimed himself a SFC license holder. It was later discovered that Edward no longer owed the license. Edward explained and clarified it was only the license expired and not yet renewed.

Allegations in sexual offence

On December 18, 2010, Edward was arrested on suspicion of rape and indecent assault and the story was covered heavily by the media.

On May 20, 2011, Department of Justice dropped the investigation due to insufficient evidence.