HONG KONG’S M+ DIRECTOR VOWS TO FIGHT POLITICAL INTERFERENCE AFTER PUBLIC OUTCRY OVER PALACE MUSEUM

Suhanya Raffel, the director of Hong Kong’s M+ museum, pledges to defend the institution from political interference after the city pushed forward a “secret” plan to build a branch of Beijing’s Palace Museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District, Enid Tsui of the South Morning China Post reports.

Critics of the Palace Museum view former chairwoman Carrie Lam’s presentation of the proposal for the institution as a strategic political move, since she recently entered the race to become Hong Kong’s next chief executive. Her failure to consult the public about the project added to the backlash.

Two anonymous sources involved with the West Kowloon Cultural District told the Post that someone might be appointed to head both institutions. Raffel said she is not aware of any plans to interfere with M+. “Politics is not something that has stopped me for the last thirty years and I don’t intend for it to stop me this time,” Raffel added. “I am committed to M+. I am absolutely going to be here when M+ opens.”

The Palace Museum is slated to open in 2022, three years after the scheduled opening of M+ in 2019.