B
(a)
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There was some speculation that the visit was suggested by White Hall and not requested by the Hong Kong Government as stated in the official press release. However, contrasted with previous un- favourable public attitudes towards the interest taken by the UK Government in Hong Kong affairs, the UK initiative in this case was welcome as an indication of well meaning concern for the Hong Kong community.
(e) Some respondents were not very clear as to why it
was necessary to invite the advisers to come to Hong Kong since Government had already set up special watch dog committees chaired by senior UMELCO Members to look into complaints regarding the Police and the ICAC. There was confusion even amongst the more informed sectors who could not distinguish the machinery already established to receive and investigate complaints as opposed to a commission given the special assignment of doing a critical study into communication and management problems within the Police Force or the working procedures of the ICAC.
(f)
(g)
Some observers commented on the point that no report would be published by the team after the completion of their study. Their feeling was that the report should be published, especially if the purpose of the visit was to establish what had actually gone wrong that led to the crisis resulting in the amnesty.
A minority largely from the well-educated middle class hoped that the visit would lead to effective reforms to improve Police management efficiency and morale.
Degree of public confidence in the usefulness of the team (a) In contrast to the previous scepticism about the use-
fulness of outside experts invited to look into Hong Kong problems with a view to offering remedial advice, public reaction to this team of police advisers was on the whole favourable:-
/(i)
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