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Transcript of Governor's media session
The following is a transcript of the Governor the Rt Hon Christopher Patten's media session after his visit to Sau Mau Ping Estate today (Wednesday).
Question: Some said that the new government secretaries are not experienced or too young to take over the job. What do you feel?
Governor: I think we have got wonderful civil servants in Hong Kong. The people who have been promoted and appointed to their new jobs have got a great deal of professional commitment. Given their years, they have got a great deal of experience and they've got a great deal of drive. I am delighted that we have got so much strength in depth in our civil service. Obviously, it's sad to see the retirement of outstanding public servants like James So and Michael Leung. Michael Leung, whose retirement was announced yesterday, has given over 30 years of outstanding service to Hong Kong I've enjoyed working with him, particularly closely while he's been Secretary for Education and Manpower. I think he has done an extremely good job. But I am pleased that we've got other civil servants coming up behind to take over those posts.
Question: Is it true that more and more senior officials are going to retire and the musical chair will continue before 1997?
Governor: I very much hope that we will be able to retain as many of our outstanding civil servants as possible. Just as I hope we will be able to retain others in the public service, for example police officers. I've said again and again that we are doing everything we can before 1997 to retain our excellent staff, people who have done an outstanding job for Hong Kong and I hope that Chinese officials will realise that they have their part to play, to give reassurances about what happens after 1997. It's not provocative to note that where there are concerns, they are not usually related to what happens before 1997. So we need to see reassurance not only in words but also in deeds. One of the ways we could see that reassurance is by greater progress in the issues on which we all want to co-operate, for example those issues that are covered by the Joint Liaison Group.