HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
257
She said (in Cantonese):-The Governor, Mr. Chris PATTEN, mentioned the threat of corruption to society in his policy address this year. He quoted that since 1992 the number of reports on corruption received by the ICAC has increased by 45%. Hence, in the remaining time of the transition period, anti-corruption is accorded high priority by the Government. The ICAC also promise to strengthen its work against corruption in the coming year. The Business Ethics Campaign will be expanded from the management level to the employee level and standards of ethics for employees of the commercial sector will be laid down as an effort against corruption. The Urban Services Department is an employer of a large workforce, and the Urban Council is representing public opinion to a certain extent, therefore we must have a forward looking strategy and the courage to take the lead to combat corruption. In concert with the anti-corruption action of the government, we must compile a code of ethics as soon as possible in order to stamp out corruption among the staff, provide a sense of security to the public and also boost the confidence of investors.
Business Ethics Campaign is very important but in the hearts of the public, the promotion of ethics among staff of public institutions is even more important because civil servants serve the public, so if there is corruption, usually the public will be the victim. Therefore, it has serious influence on the livelihood of the public. A recent survey by the ICAC showed the attitude and mentality of the public towards corruption. According to the results of the survey, 20.9% of the interviewees are of the opinion that there is corruption within government departments, this represents an increase of 11.4% when compared with the 1993 figures. Besides, 34.6% of the interviewees opined that the ICAC should target its efforts at stamping corruption in public institutions. Another point worth mentioning is that the interviewees showed a significant difference in level of tolerance towards corruption within public institutions and within the commercial and industrial sectors. For corruption within the commercial and industrial sectors, the level of tolerance by the public is 46.5% but for public institutions, the level of tolerance is only 5%. It reflects that the public has high expectations on the integrity of civil servants.
The commercial and industrial sectors are active in supporting the government to promote the Business Ethics Campaign and take the initiative to formulate a set of code of ethics for their staff to observe. As a government institution, we should take an active role in promoting anti-corruption in order to achieve an uncorrupt society. To promote honesty in society, the Government should take the lead. On the whole, civil servants in Hong Kong are honest. There are only a small number of black sheep. It is the Doomsday mentality that led to the abuse of power and corruption activities of some civil servants who can't resist temptation. In the past 1 or 2 years, we have seen quite a number of examples of corruption amongst the civil servants. Although they only amount to a slight minority of civil servants, that attracted worries and concern among members of the public. Moreover, the job nature
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