Anna Wu Hung-yuk has called for an overhaul of Hong Kong’s system of public appointments, with an independent commissioner to ensure candidates are chosen on the basis of merit
GARY.CHEUNG@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Sunday, 22 May, 2016, 10:46pm
Executive Council member Anna Wu. Photo: Sam Tsang
Executive councillor Anna Wu Hung-yuk has called for an overhaul of Hong Kong’s system of public appointments, with an independent commissioner to ensure candidates are chosen on the basis of merit, through a transparent process.
The government was quick to pour cold water on her suggestion, which follows controversy over public appointments in the past few months, such as Alfred Chan Cheung-ming replacing York Chow Yat-ngok as chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission – a watchdog Wu once chaired herself.
In an interview with the Post, Wu said there was a need for Hong Kong to develop a set of principles for appointments to statutory and advisory bodies.
As a point of reference, she cited the UK Commissioner for Public Appointments who ensures that ministers’ picks for the boards of public bodies are made on merit after a fair, open and transparent process. The commissioner, whose post was created in 1995, is appointed by the Queen and is independent of the British government.
“We don’t have a queen in Hong Kong and this would require suitable substitutes,” Wu said. “One possibility is to have the chief executive nominate the commissioner [for public appointments] for endorsement or confirmation by the legislature in an attempt to make the appointment as independent as possible.”
The UK commissioner has published a code of practice for ministerial appointments to pubic bodies based on three core principles – merit, openness and fairness.
The chairperson and commissioners of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, for example, are appointed in accordance with this code. The chairman’s post requires a pre-appointment scrutiny hearing conducted by two select committees made up of members from both houses of parliament.
In Hong Kong, most appointments to key statutory and advisory bodies are made by the chief executive. Leung Chun-ying has maintained that appointments to public offices are based on merit.
Asked if many key posts in advisory bodies had been taken up by Leung’s allies, Wu said: “We should not focus on whether appointees are the chief executive’s friends or allies, but whether they can do their jobs in those bodies.”
In December, Leung appointed former education minister Arthur Li Kwok-cheung as chairman of the University of Hong Kong’s governing council amid strong opposition from the student union, some staff and alumni groups.
In September, the government initiated an open recruitment exercise to appoint the next head of the Equal Opportunities Commission.
Then-chairman York Chow was a vocal advocate of the rights of sexual minorities who have no legal protection against discrimination. In April, Lingnan University academic Alfred Chan Cheung-ming succeeded Chow as commission chairman, and was off to a rocky start amid concerns that he did not share his predecessor’s enthusiasm for such issues.
Chan has also been criticised for backing controversial calls by hardliners for a detention camp to house asylum seekers.
A spokesman for the Home Affairs Bureau said the government made appointments to advisory and statutory bodies on the basis of the merit of individuals concerned.
“The current appointment system has been running smoothly and effectively,” the spokesman said. “We will continue to keep in view the policy and mechanism for the appointment to advisory and statutory bodies to ensure that they would continue to form an integral part of the public policy formulation and decision making process, where the public is consulted and engaged to provide advice and suggestions on a broad spectrum of issues for the management of public affairs.”
http://m.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/1951034/call-government-appointments-overhaul
