IS
werl
Sir I. Monson
An Ombudsman for Hong Kong
I had a useful talk last Friday with Mr. Sykes, the Secretary
in our Office of Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration.
It helped me to sort out my thoughts and I now suggest that I should take the following line in discussion when I am in Hong Kong next
month.
2.
a)
Since Hong Kong cannot escape from its colonial status
adaptation of the ombudsman concept to local conditions is one of the ways open to the Government of spiking the guns of their critics.
(b) The similarity between the functions of a twentieth
century ombudsman in the West and the traditional functions
of the Chinese censor of Imperial times should be exploited.
(c) It will, however, be essential to make it widely known
throughout the Colony before the Ombudsman takes up his
appointment exactly what complaints he will be able to
look into, how complaints should be submitted to him,
what his powers will be, and how his reports will be
published.
(a)
The new office should be small (a total staff of perhaps a dozen at most) and extreme care would have to be taken
to see that it is not overwhelmed by paper, particularly before it has had a chance of proving its worth. It
must not become an Ombudsmouse.
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These are very broad considerations and a detailed study will
be necessary to determine precisely how the new office should
function.
RCF.
4 August, 1970
En
ai
(E. 0. Laird)
Hong Kong Department
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