GIS Through The Years

Chapter 9: Hearts, Minds and Mobile Cinemas

The events of 1967 - just 30 years before expiry of the New Territories lease - led to some stocktaking, both by government and the public at large. If it achieved nothing else, that troubled period forced Hong Kong people to re-evaluate their relationship to their chosen place of residence.

Until then, many had looked upon Hong Kong as a temporary transit centre in their as yet unfocused search for a more durable home. Now they began to examine more attentively what this temporary refuge had to offer. Its benefits became more tangible, its amenities more compelling.

If a territory so small, so vulnerable and yet so well suited to their expectations could be placed so precipitously at risk, perhaps there were ways in which its securities could be better reinforced. A closer inspection of its mechanisms seemed in order. The administration, stirred out of complacency, reacted by positively inviting and encouraging this public examination. The opportunity arose for establishing a closer working relationship between government and governed.

To enhance public participation in public affairs, the government began to seek advice on its various policies by appointing committees, the members of which included those with established expertise or familiarities in appropriate fields. By 1980, more than 150 advisory bodies had been established, forming a comprehensive network through which to sieve policy initiatives and legislative proposals.

Government by consensus became the catchword of the new order and bridges of communication were the construction task allocated to its newly-established wing of public relations in ISD. And among the newest of the 'bridge engineers' was Tony Clark, transferred to the department as Senior Information Officer.

"I had worked in the New Territories Administration since my arrival in Hong Kong," recalls Clark, "and survived the riots, despite being tear gassed - by the police as it happened, though you couldn't blame them, since they were merely trying to clear assembled protestors from the steps of the south Kowloon magistracy next door to my non-air-conditioned, windows-open-in-all-weather office.

"In 1967 - and through beyond 1968 - I was District Secretary in District Office (South). Which meant, in those days, that I ran the office administration, the local publics works programme, liaison with the military and so on. Three 'good ideas' were advanced as to how we could bring impartial news to the remote areas:

  • There would be a free newspaper delivered from the sky by the RHKAAF;
  • An Army Information Team (AIT) would be set up to show entertainment and news films in remote villages; and
  • The military would mount joint 'hearts-and-minds' village patrols with the Police and the District Office.

"I was the link at the District Office for all three of these operations once they became established. My task was to report back villagers' complaints about bundles of air-dropped newsprint drilling great holes in the roofs of village houses. I presumed that GIS would pick up the tab for all this.

"I was much more directly involved with the tasking and deployment of the AIT and the PolMil patrols. So much so that, when the time came for the army to withdraw, I was asked whether I would like to seek a transfer to ISD, as a Senior Information Officer, to get the new 'CIT' up and running.

"I had, by then, left the outdoor life of the District Office and was the Secretary of the Government's Central Tender Board - an immensely boring job, and the first of many posts I was later to occupy in the Colonial (later 'Government') Secretariat. One of my first tasks, incidentally, was to open the tenders for the extension of the runway at Kai Tak.

"The Government system - then, as now - doesn't usually allow for individuals simply to move from one grade to another. I was asked to respond to an advert that would eventually be published in the South China Morning Post - I then had to compete with whomever also responded. In the event, there were, I recall, two candidates, including myself. I always like to feel that although I knew the chairman of the interview board (Nigel Watt) and the Secretary (John Telford) such acquaintance had nothing to do with my selection!

"Getting selected and getting appointed are two different things. I recall two hurdles - the Head of the Executive Grade called me up and asked if I really knew what I was doing. How dare I leave such a thriving family of friendly people for all those strange guys in GIS. In any case, he didn't know when he could release me - and it was not until some months later that he did.

“The other hurdle came from GIS itself. Dick Norman was the Assistant Director in charge of personnel. I had set him a problem. I was on the permanent establishment of the Hong Kong Government. All other expats in GIS were on contract. Would I resign from the Hong Kong Government so I could be reappointed on the same terms as all the rest? Not likely was the answer. More delay. But the day eventually came when I was released and reported to my new boss, John Slimming, CIO/PRD, in Sutherland House, just across the Hong Kong Cricket Club ground from GIS headquarters in Beaconsfield House.

"At least the time had not all been wasted - John Telford had asked me what equipment would be required. I told him - two Land Rovers, film projectors, mobile generators and the rest of it. I even had an office - in the spanking new Canton Road Government Offices in Kowloon - much more convenient for travel to the NT; and very handy for the Government Dockyard which provided all our marine transport to the outlying islands."

Back at Sutherland House, Irene Yau (herself destined, some years later to become DIS) had joined Slimming's team, having transferred from the executive to the information grade to continue the vital task of analysing, and abbreviating in a nutshell, what the Chinese media had to say in response to, or in the absence of, various government initiatives.

Irene had proved her mastery of the art of appearing cool and unruffled in the most daunting of circumstances, when she presented a daily condensation of media highlights to a panel of luminaries back in that 'dark, smoky room' in Beaconsfield House.

Out of such Herculean efforts in rapid digestion of voluminous headlines arose GIST and, later the Daily Media Summary which, ever since, have been in great demand both among heads of department and - when they can get their hands on it - the media at large.


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