When I was writing this opinion piece, Deputy Directors of Bureaux and Assistants to Directors of the whole, all the Permanent Secretaries and department heads took the lead to swear an oath, and the arrangement of oath taking and signing of a statement for the rest of the civil servants was in the pipeline. The dispute brought about lately over espousing the Basic Law and pledging allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administration Region(HKSAR) has admittedly made people deplore with sighs the recent changes in Hong Kong, not least the change in the role played by civil servants.

In fact, being impartial, balancing interests of various parties and dubbed the finest team all over the world, civil servants, especially administrative officers, have since always been reliable to Hong Kong people. However, Nip Tak-kuen, the Secretary for the Civil Service, said what he preaches on is the recognition and manifestation of the responsibility and expectation of civil servants under the Basic Law and Civil Service Regulations.

Nevertheless, the authorities have not further clarified the issue of provisions of details in order to pacify civil servants. Being one of them, I am looking forward to the authorities elaborating on the details of their measure with reasons so as to let officials of different levels grasp the fact it is legitimate and essential for it is necessary, under such a worrying political system, to consolidate the civil service team by alleviating the feelings of “censorship on thoughts” and individual rights unreasonably regulated.

Firstly, Article 99 of the Basic Law specifies that “public servants must be dedicated to their duties and be responsible to the Government of the HKSAR.” Putting it together with Article 48 and 60, it clearly states that civil servants are supposed to pledge loyalty to the government. The Civil Service Regulations are also drawn up pursuant to those terms.

Nonetheless, the legal ground for the request made by the government for civil servants of the whole to take the oath and sign the statement comes from Article 6 of the National Security Law, which stipulates that anyone who assumes public office shall uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the HKSAR of the People’s Republic of China.

Since the SAR was founded, the civil service team has been abiding by the Basic Law and the Civil Service Regulations scrupulously in managing affairs. If the oath taking and signing of the statement is just to fulfil the requirement stated in the National Security Law, the authorities should clarify the issue of responsibility after the implementation as quickly as it could. Are civil servants subject to the regulation only when they are on duty or at any time?

Logically, it is laid down in Article 104 of the Basic Law that when assuming office, the people concerned shall swear to uphold the Basic Law and swear allegiance to the HKSAR. The people concerned according to the provisions are obviously key government dignitaries. I hold the view that when the Basic Law was being drafted, it was based on the original thought that these people concerned who are required to swear an oath have another greater responsibility as compared to other civil servants, which is what Carrie Lam has indicated: safeguarding, promoting and espousing the Basic Law and pledging loyalty to the government, while ordinary civil servants are only responsible for putting in practice orders given by the government dignitaries and direct supervisors. Now that the government has extended this responsibility to include all civil servants, it must make clear the responsibility involved, and on what ground does it equate “public servants” with all civil servants or otherwise, such a provision amounts to regression.

What worries the civil service team more is the objective criteria and mechanism of “breach of oath”. Let’s make reference to the LegCo members stripped of their qualification. The one who adjudicated on whether the lawmakers concerned were sincerely upholding the Basic Law and being loyal to the HKSAR was a returning officer, and the ruling was based on whether what they advocated and their behaviors on the internet were a breach of the statement and confirmation they signed when running for elections. Other concerns include the Chan Ho-tin case and the interpretation on Article 104 of the Basic Law by the National People’s Congress in 2016, according to which one is not qualified to be a LegCo member if one does not uphold the Basic Law and is not loyal to the HKSAR government. To this end, in view of the fact that the internet is so well-developed and information is inundating, internet behaviors will be deemed political as the occasion demands. Will civil servants be accused of violating discipline? Or will it put them into a situation where it is difficult to deliver a sensible explanation for their behaviors? This is extraordinarily worrying.

What yours truly frets about is that under the situation where personal rights of civil servants are hardly differentiated from their duties, what it is going to impact on are not only the 180 civil servants, but also a lot of people and a lot of matters. A host of civil servants bewildered by plenty of obscured areas have quit and landed a better job. Is it conducive to the administration and Hong Kong to have those willing to swear the oath left in the civil service team?

(Sam Sai, civil servant)

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