CONFIDENTIAL
Corruption
11.
The Anti-Corruption Commission has been set up but is not
yet in operation. It is too early to say what success it will
have. The men at the top of the Commission are able and determined
but neither they nor the Governor have any illusions about the
size of the problem.
Urban Council
12.
I think the Governor somewhat overstates the success of the
reorganisation. Members of the Council who visited Britain and
others in Hong Kong have expressed dissatisfaction with their
declining role, particularly in the housing field. The Urban
Council are jealous of their position as the sole partly-elected
body in the colony, while the members of Executive and Legislative
Councils are apt to look down on them as a talking shop. The
conflict remains unresolved.
Reform of the Machinery of Government
13.
What I think the Governor is hinting at is that senior
officers, particularly perhaps the Financial Secretary, have been
unwilling to follow through the McKinsey reorganisation and to
delegate authority down the newly-constructed chain. This criticism
is almost certainly true. It is a matter of personalities and is
unlikely to be resolved quickly.
Popular Attitudes to Government
14. This is the crux of the problem of Government inside Hong
Kong - how to involve the local population in the actions and
decisions of Government without representative institutions;
dictatorial government on Singapore lines; and without a sense
of nationhood for the future. At the moment it is still true that
without
/almost