2 -
FRIDAY, JANUARY 11, 1980
INTERVIEWER: DO YOU REGARD THE PRESENT UNREST IF YOU LIKE, IF
IN SOME SECTIONS OF CIVIL SERVICE, BEING AN ALARMING OR A HEALTHY TREND?
SIR JACK: CERTAINLY NOT ALARMING, AND I SUPPOSE I WOULD BE
MISUNDERSTOOD IF I SAID HEALTHY. NO, I THINK THAT THE IR REACTION TO THE COMMISSION'S REPORT IN MANY WAYS WAS TO BE EXPECTED, THOSE WHO GOT WHAT THEY WANTED OUT OF THE COMMISSION OR GOT WHAT THEY EXPECTED, YOU CAN'T EXPECT THEM, THE ASSOCIATION CHAIRMEN AND OTHERS, TO GO AROUND SAYING WHAT A GREAT COMMISSION REPORT IT WAS. THE BEST YOU GET FROM THEM IS NOT BAD+ OR +WE WILL SEE HOW IT WORKS OUT.+ OTHERS WHO PERHAPS HAVE FAILED TO PUT THEIR CASE ACROSS CONVINCINGLY TO THE COMMISSION, OR PERHAPS WHO MAY WELL HAVE BEEN UNDERSTOOD, THIS IS WHAT THEY CLAIMED, NEVERTHELESS THEY HAVE A CHANCE TOUT THEIR CASE AGAIN AND THIS IS THE VALUE OF A STANDING COMMISSION. IT IS AN EXPERIMENT HERE IN HONG KONG BUT ONE WHICH I THINK HAS ALL THE MAKINGS OF GREAT SUCCESS AND WE MUST GIVE IT A CHANCE.
INTERVIEWER: WHAT WE MIGHT CONSIDER A PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT
FOR YOURSELF DURING THE SEVENTIES WAS OF COURSE THE SETTING UP OF THE ICAC, SIR JACK, WHERE DO YOU SEE THE ICAC MOVING IN THIS COMING DECADE?
SIR JACK I THINK ONE SHOULD LOOK BACK JUST A LITTLE ON THAT. I THINK THE IMPORTANT THING THAT HAS HAPPENED SINCE THE SETTING UP OF THE ICAC IS THAT, FIRST OF ALL, I THINK THAT THE PEOPLE OF HONG KONG WHO ACCEPTED THAT THIS GOVERNMENT WAS DETERMINED AT THE TIME, AND VERY OBVIOUSLY REMAINS DETERMINED, TO STAMP OUT CORRUPTION. THE MAIN ACHIEVEMENT HAS BEEN, OF COURSE, THE CUTTING OUT, THE STAMPING OUT OF SYNDICATED CORRUPTION. THE BIG SYNDICATES OF THE PAST NO LONGER EXIST AND IT IS NOW THE ICAC'S JOB TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY DON'T COME BACK. THEY HAVE OTHER PROBLEMS OBVIOUSLY CORRUPTION HAS JUST NOT SIMPLY GONE AWAY SINCE 1974. THERE IS CORRUPTION STILL IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND I AM SURE THAT SIR DONALD LUDDINGTON HAS THIS IN MIND FOR FUTURE ACTION. THERE IS LOW LEVEL CORRUPTION, TOO, WITHIN SOME PARTS OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE. AND SO THERE ARE STILL AREAS OF ACTIVITY FOR THE ICAC, BUT I THINK INCREASINGLY, THEIR ACTION WILL BE, AND THIS WAS FORESEEN SOME YEARS AGO, ON PREVENTION AND COMMUNITY RELATIONS. IT WILL BE SEEN, ́¡ THINK, MORE AND MORE TO BE INVOLVED WITH AND EMPHASISING THIS ASPECT OF THEIR WORK.
INTERVIEWER DO YOU BELIEVE THAT THE ICAC CAN SUCCEED IN
CERTAINLY PUTTING CORRUPTION TO THE VERY LOWEST LEVEL WHEN YOU CONSIDER THAT HONG KONG WITH ALL ITS PROSPERITY AND WITH EVERYTHING CENTRED AROUND THE DOLLAR+ BECOMES PART OF THE WAY OF LIFE.
1
SIR JACK THIS, I THINK, WAS ONE OF THE GREAT PROBLEMS THAT THE ICAC HAD TO TACKLE AND THAT IS OUR OVER-CONCENTRATION ON MATERIALISM, I THINK IT HAS BEGUN TO TACKLE THAT ALREADY, I THINK THE MERE FACT OF HAVING AN ORGANISATION WHICH IS INTERESTED IN STAMPING OUT CORRUPTION BUT AT THE SAME TIME IMPROVING, I WOULD THINK, THE QUALITY OF LIFE IN A MORAL SENSE. I THINK THIS MUST HELP IN THIS AREA YOU TALKED OF AND SO I WOULD SAY THAT THE MERE FACT THAT THE ICAC BEING THERE, THE WORK THAT IS BEING DONE NOW BY ITS COMMUNITY RELATIONS DEPARTMENT, MUST HAVE ITS EFFECT IN THE LONG RUN.
/INTERVIER:
7