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Page 8 Monday, August 13, 1973 HONGKONG S
Hongkong Standard
THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER ESTABLISHED 1943
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· DAILY READERSHIP OVER 150,000
No turning back
THE GODBER AFFAIR, for better or worse, has probably sparked off what will be Hongkong's biggest governmental purge ever.
Political pressure in London, fuelled by widespread public outrage here, will undoubtedly result in escalated anti-corruption probes not only in our beleagured Royal Hongkong Police Force but in every administrative department that comes into frequent contact with the public and, therefore, is considered suspects.
While this purge is, perhaps, inevitable given the fresh new winds that have been blowing over the Colony from the direction of Government House in the past year, there is a very real danger that these investigations will escalate out of control and will assume the undesirable proportions of a witch-hunt.
Informed civic leadership in Hongkong is sharply polarised over the desirability of a quick, ruthless, once-and-for-all house cleaning.
One faction is of the opinion that the Colony should take full advantage of the furore arising from the Godher Affair, and conduct a purge irrespective of consequences.
The other would rather see a more conservative approach to the problem. "The mailed fist method will do as much harm as good," one civic leader cautioned last week. "We must be careful."
While both sides of the argument have almost equal merit, it is clear that there must be some compromise, some level-headed solution that would ensure against the innocent being tarred with the same brush as the guilty.
the
There are
already rumblings within Government, preliminary tremors that could lead to the kind of trouble we can well do without. It is known that more than a few of the most honest, capable and experienced officers in several of the uniformed branches of the Civil Service are glumly considering the dubious desirability of remaining in the Government while faced with the prospect of a stormy and unpredictable future.
For the police force itself, already badly understrength, the worst is probably yet to come. Between the time she forthcoming investigations weaken it even more to the time it is rebuilt and revamped, there could be a period during which lawlessness on the streets may reach new peaks.
For all the debates on the subject, however, one fact is clear: corruption at relatively high levels has been flushed out into the open. It must be tooted out in a campaign that will possibly reach into every walk of longkong life. There is no turning back.
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