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Following is the transcript (English portion) of remarks by the Chief Executive, Mr Donald Tsang, at a meet-the-media session at Conference Hall, Central Government Offices New Annex, today (June 10):
Chief Executive: Good afternoon.
On May 31, I spoke about the issues of the right of abode and salary of Under Secretaries and Political Assistants.
Given the sustained public interest, I would like to elaborate on the Government's position. My elaboration comes in four parts. The first deals with the question of nationality, then the question on recruitment procedure. The third part is dealing with salary determination, and the fourth, on the method of releasing or announcing the appointments.
Different people have different views on whether Under Secretaries and Political Assistants may have the right of abode in a foreign country.
The Government has made clear its position, that is, we must act according to the provisions of the Basic Law and the Central Government's policy towards Hong Kong.
Five Under Secretaries with foreign right of abode have already renounced their rights in this regard. They did so to demonstrate their commitment to Hong Kong, and to put this matter to rest. These were personal decisions, and I respect them.
Regardless of this, the nationality question remains important and does deserve deeper thought by the community.
As an international city, Hong Kong is known for its openness and ability to attract talent from around the world. This includes many overseas Hong Kong people who emigrated before the Reunification but who have since returned home and are now serving Hong Kong in different capacities. Together, they have helped make Hong Kong the success it is today.
In the same way, the Government also has to attract talent from different backgrounds to help us provide an efficient and stable government as well as the best services to the public. For this, we need to nurture new blood in the leadership of this and succeeding Administrations.
The appointment of Under Secretaries and Political Assistants has gone through a rigorous process.
This process began after legislators approved in December last year the creation of the posts of Under Secretary and Political Assistant.
We made it clear that all interested parties could put forward nominations. We then formed interviewing panels to interview the candidates. The interviewing panels would then make assessments of individual candidates for the Appointment Committee, which I chaired. All appointment decisions were made by the Appointment Committee on a collective basis, and centred around the principle of meritocracy, personal integrity and a need to appoint candidates most fitting for the jobs.
On the question of salary, some have argued that the Government should disclose the specific salaries of individual appointees. We have already disclosed the salary ranges of Under Secretaries and Political Assistants, as well as a breakdown of the number of appointees for each salary point. This is consistent with what we are doing regarding the salary information of civil servants, and this is an important point of principle.
In response to public expectations, the Under Secretaries and Political Assistants have now decided to disclose their own salaries, and we do not disagree with their decisions.
I appreciate that Under Secretaries and Political Assistants are new political posts, and the public has a greater expectation on the transparency of their salaries.
When we announced their appointment, our original intention was to wait until they assumed their positions before they met the press to talk about their new roles. Most of them were still working in different organisations. However, the public expected them to share their thoughts and visions as soon as the Government announced the appointments. With hindsight, I admit the arrangements in this regard did not fully meet public expectations, and I apologise for the controversy this has caused.
We have arranged for the 17 appointees to meet you shortly, and to take your questions.
The political appointment system is still relatively new to Hong Kong. The events of the past few weeks have given the Government a better understanding of what the public expects as far as political appointments are concerned. We will build on this experience and seek improvement as we move forward.
Finally, I appeal to you and to the public to give the Under Secretaries and Political Assistants an opportunity to prove their worth, and to show that, with them, the Government can do a better job in serving the public.
I can now take a few questions.
Reporter: You apologised for the lateness in having these people come before us, but do you think this is the only thing on which, in this whole saga, has failed to meet public expectations? If so, how did the Government get it wrong? Second point is do you think that in terms of the Basic Law, some damages may have been done to Hong Kong's autonomy because under the Basic Law these people don't have to, for example, give up their foreign passports?
Chief Executive: This is exactly my point as regards nationality. There are very clear provisions in the Basic Law, and not only the law itself, it's the rationale behind the law. Why we are allowing people, who are having right of abode elsewhere, to work in the public sector but not in a very senior position of secretaries or Chief Executive and very few positions which are clearly designated in the Basic Law? So having gone through the whole episode and tried to analyse it in the four different aspects which I have just done, I believe there are things in which I could improve. For instance the way in which we announce them, which would give you the opportunity to interview them as quickly as possible, to dispel any doubts as regards recruitment procedures, salaries, etc. But there are fundamental provisions in the Basic Law and there are important points of principle as regards salary we must safeguard. So what we have done is, I believe, to be correct. There are areas in which I believe I could have done better with the benefit of hindsight. I will learn from this lesson.
About our autonomy. I regard the compliance with the Basic Law as fundamental. Our ability to appoint people to the public sector, having foreign nationality, is an important provision that we will continue to safeguard.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Issued at HKT 17:07
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