The resignation of several Directorate-level Public Servants in the past few months is raising questions in Hong Kong.
One, who spoke to journalists on condition that their real name was not revealed, said changes in culture played a bigger role in the decision to quit than the National Security Law or the forced taking of a new oath of allegiance by all Public Servants.
Going under the pseudonym of Polly, the individual said many policies in the administration were top-down, instead of bottom-up and “we have to provide the reasoning for policies we do not really endorse”.
Polly, who was in Government for more than a decade, said some Public Servants might hesitate or worry about the oath-taking, but that was not what prompted many to quit.
Polly’s reason to quit was simple: “I felt I could no longer do my job properly.”
“Many policies have been irrational and hard to explain to the public,” Polly said, citing the discrepancy between the number of people allowed to dine together in a restaurant or meet in public during the pandemic.
“Why is it two? Why is it four? If I drafted the policy, I wouldn’t know how to explain it to the public,” the former official said.
“Working in the Government now is very different from what I imagined when I joined the service,” Polly said.
“Most Administrative Officers (AOs) do not have a say now. We were asked to find ways to justify proposals that had already been decided, even if we thought they were a no-go,” they said.
Polly said everything was top-down from the Chief Executive, instead of allowing AOs to weigh the pros and cons of a policy before making proposals to senior officials.
“I felt lost, frustrated, and doubted whether I was working for the public interest, or merely serving some individuals,” the former official said.
Secretary for the Public Service, Patrick Nip Tak-kuen said most of those who had left were younger Administrative Officers who might have resigned for personal or family reasons, or because they found new jobs.
“However, we will not take it lightly,” Mr Nip said.
“We will discuss more with Administrative Officers of different ranks on how to improve the working environment,” he said.
Hong Kong, 7 December 2020
