ASIAN AFFAIRS ANALYSIS ON HONG KONG 2.4 THE ANSON CHAN LEGACY (extract of Asian Affairs nș19) The architect of the so-called “neutrality” concept was the highest-ranking civil servant, Mrs. Anson Chan, who, to satisfy one of the requirements of the Sino-British agreement of 1984, was appointed by Chris Patten as his Chief Secretary (5). She went on to remain the Chief of Administration until her retirement (6). ‘Any bureaucracy, whether American or European, behave the same way, points out Alan Lung. Its main aim is to be immune to change, because change means trouble. Civil servants are always worried to get into trouble. Our civil service was and is just aiming at self-preservation regardless of anything else.’ Anson Chan had a profound effect on the civil service culture post 1997 for she conceptualized and put together a coherent theory for the political neutrality of a civil servant to stand apart from the Chief Executive in any important decision. ‘Even today you find this motto that the civil service should remain politically neutral as if it were possible, Jasper Tang says. Let me give you an example. There was a debate on the reforms of the housing policies and whether or not land sale should be frozen. The decision was delayed by one week. And why? The ministers had argued that the measures were necessary. Then from the civil service came the argument that because we are a free economy, the government should not interfere and no decision should be made in favor of a freeze. Mr. Tung, others, and myself argued that we should not deceive ourselves. The government is the largest player in the housing market. That has always been the case. So how could we claim that we should be neutral under the guise of a free-market that does not really exist? The civil service could have asked why the housing market was government-led, but it was not its point. It wanted to be seen as neutral, meaning it should do nothing. Since all of the decision-makers knew that in the housing market, the government was the main player, to argue that it was a free market economy and therefore the government should do nothing was nonsense. Yet the civil servants would not admit it because to recognize the truth would challenge the myth of their so-called neutrality. The officials did not really care about the economic situation in the sector. So, even today when there is a debate among the top civil servants, a debate where the Chief Executive himself is a party, you find this motto that the civil service should remain politically neutral as if it were possible.' Anson Chan was not only able to shape the so-called neutrality concept; she had become the only source of power within the civil service, long before C.H. Tung assumed the position of Chief Executive. 'She was surrounded by people she was familiar with. Hong Kong people called them the “handbag gang”, because theses ladies had very close personal relations with her', Jasper Tang said with a ironic smile on his face. James Tien, although at the other end of the political spectrum, concurs: ‘in the old days, when Anson Chan was at the top of the civil service, the whole civil service was run as an old boys’ club. No one from within would rock the boat because once you retired you would join a public body such as the airport authority, and enjoy the gravy train up to the end. Many if not all the senior officials took advantage of the system. Just look around and you will see how many landed plum public appointments after retiring.' What made matters worse for C.H. Tung was his lack of public relations skills. In his previous activities, as the heir of a vast fortune, he never had to develop those. As Christine Loh puts it mildly: 'It certainly carries a political price.' Anson Chan, who started her career at the bottom of the colonial ladder, had thirty years to perfect the art of being obedient and in the right light at the right time. As for every civil servant, her remarkable career owed probably more to her PR skills than her competence. She therefore easily outsmarted C.H. Tung and positioned herself immediately as the symbol of continuity. Thus, any attempt to control her or reign in her authority among the civil service would then have been interpreted by the media as an attempt to subvert continuity. Anointed the conscience of Hong Kong by the international media, she soon considered that she did not have to be answerable to any one but her own conscience. She had positioned herself skilfully as the center of everything within the civil service and senior officials were afraid of her because she would not tolerate any dissenting view. She would promote or sideline people without consideration to any other matter than their loyalty to her. She was very good at enlisting an army of supporters, even among the legislators, who nevertheless lambasted her for the disastrous opening of the new airport. She was everywhere, while C.H. Tung did not even look carefully at his own pro-Chinese clan. ‘After our former Vice-Chairman Gary Cheng got in trouble, revealed Japer Tang, the leader of the grass root party D.A.B, Anson Chan was the only senior official who spoke to me most often of his legal problem. She was always asking me to let her know if she could do something to help. She used to say: “ I miss him very much”. But how could it be true? I knew and she knew that she could not do a thing about his legal problems. But that was the way she was operating and trapping people within her own circle or pushing them outside.' Eventually Gary Cheng was jailed for one year for corruption (7). Ultimately, the disharmony between the Chief Executive and Anson Chan became public knowledge, even though they kept denying it. If Anson Chan was in the eyes of the public the conscience of Hong Kong (8), C.H. Tung started to look more and more like a blundering and incompetent leader, for everything that was going wrong was attributed to his leadership and every positive move the work of the civil service upon which he had no control whatsoever. Anson Chan was constantly in the news and her rating far higher than her boss' one. Behind the spin the main thrust of her actions was preventing Hong Kong from moving closer to China. She had never been comfortable with the Mainland authorities, and had little knowledge of China. She had been constantly ambiguous about her future, telling me in 1993 that she was considering moving to London where her children were living. Then, the offer to be number one of the administration came. It was too good to be refused. Her ambition got the better of her resolution. Thus C.H. Tung was after all telling the truth when he reckoned in his Policy Address 2003, that Hong Kong had at last a direction, for it had had none as long as Anson Chan was his Chief Secretary for Administration. ‘I can see the reason why it happened, James Tien says. Our civil service is imbued with a British type mentality. Considering that we were richer that our neighbors, our officials inevitably thought why should we go and help a poor neighbor such as Shenzhen, for example, that is likely to compete against Hong Kong as soon as it has the means? That was not only a very narrow-minded point of view, but also an extremely short-sighted one. It was as if the meaning of the “one country-two systems” concept was the further we, Hong Kong go up, the further you, China, must go down. Of course, it could not work.' No one had any time to look into the future. Hong Kong was drifting slowly but surely outside its own world economy, a development that today has many implications. ‘Before Anson Chan’s retirement, within the civil service, you were either a friend or a foe, Jasper Tang says. People were just looking after themselves.' ‘No one from within would rock the boat, laments James Tien, because once one retired one was eyeing a public body. In their days, most of the top colonial civil servants when retiring were doing the honorable thing. They were going home. In 1997, the Hong Kong Chinese civil servants had nowhere to go home. They just wanted to go on and on forever at the taxpayer’s expense. No one wanted to be off the gravy train. A very unhealthy development for the society took place, unchecked.' | |||
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