The Hong Kong Government has confirmed that 129 Public Servants who refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Special Administrative Region (SAR) will be sacked.
Secretary for the Civil Service, Patrick Nip Tak-kuen said some of the hold-outs among the 170,000-strong bureaucracy had written on the form that the requirement infringed their right to free speech.
The Civil Service Bureau said of the group, 25 had resigned and the rest had been suspended or put on unpaid leave.
“As a permanent resident or as a Civil Servant of the Hong Kong SAR, it’s the basic responsibility to bear allegiance to Hong Kong and the administration,” Mr Nip said.
“We will be fast-tracking the procedures; this will be over and done with within a couple of months, I am sure,” he said.
The requirement to pledge loyalty to the Government comes amid a city-wide crackdown on dissent and political opposition since a national security law was imposed on Hong Kong by Beijing last year.
In January, Hong Kong Government broadcaster, RTHK terminated the permanent Public Service contract of journalist, Nabela Qoser (pictured) known for her hard-hitting questions of Government officials.
Management had offered Ms Qoser a choice between resigning and taking a short-term contract in a move that was widely condemned as political interference in the media.
The journalist chose the new contract, which has no Public Service protections.
Ms Qoser’s Public Service contract was terminated after she fired a series of hard-hitting questions at Chief Executive, Carrie Lam about a 31 July attack by armed thugs on train passengers in Yuen Long, prompting Ms Lam and other top officials to walk out of a news conference.
Hong Kong, 21 April 2021
