After sudden retirement, Paul Tang insists he has no regrets and urges successor to preserve core value of political neutrality among officers
TONY CHEUNGtony.cheung@scmp.com
PUBLISHED : Monday, 03 August, 2015, 5:38am
UPDATED : Monday, 03 August, 2015, 5:38am
Former civil service minister Paul Tang Kwok-wai. Photo: K.Y. Cheng
Paul Tang Kwok-wai, the former secretary for the civil service, has urged his successor to safeguard its workers' core values, including political neutrality.
And in his first interview since making an abrupt departure from government, Tang also asked political appointees to "have more confidence" in their senior civil servant colleagues.
On July 21, the government suddenly announced Tang's retirement from the civil service and that of secretary for home affairs Tsang Tak-sing.
In a separate statement, Tang said he had stepped down from his job due to "unforeseeable family circumstances".
Following the surprise reshuffle, Tsang's brother, Legislative Council President Jasper Tsang Yok-sing, hit out at some "incredibly stupid" government officials for spreading rumours that the departure of the two ministers was due to their unsatisfactory performances.
But in a pre-recorded RTHK interview yesterday, Tang said there was "no need to clarify" the speculation about him.
"I have no regret for what I did in the last three years. I tried my best in doing my job [such as] maintaining civil servants' core values," Tang said.
In recent years, questions have been raised about civil servants' political neutrality amid the social divide over sensitive issues such as political reform and Hong Kong's relationship with the mainland and Beijing.
In June, an anonymous group of civil servants placed a newspaper advertisement urging lawmakers to vote down the government's blueprint for the 2017 chief executive election.
Some political commentators also queried whether Leung Chun-ying, as a relatively unpopular chief executive, had the civil servants' backing. But Tang said political neutrality remained a core value among civil servants, and that most abided by that rule.
"They would not do the government any disservice. … There were cases of civil servants breaching the rule, but we have a disciplinary hearing [system] in place to deal with that," Tang said. He did not elaborate on those cases.
On his successor Clement Cheung Wan-ching, Tang said: "I think the most important thing is to maintain the civil servants' system, especially its core values. Things that are effective have to be looked after and protected."
He also reminded younger civil servants to bear in mind that it is the political appointees, such as ministers and undersecretaries, who make political decisions, and the civil service's job is to advise and implement policies.
"Civil servants present ministers with different proposals and analyses … so ministers should have more confidence in permanent secretaries, who are helping them to implement [measures]," he said, referring to the most senior rank of civil servants.
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1845950/former-minister-urges-successor-preserve-civil-servants
