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14 MAR
48
INDEX
HONG KONG: JUNIOR POLICE OFFICERS ASSOCIATION (JPOA)
1. In his telegram no. 266 of 4 March the Governor of Hong Kong warns that recent developments in the Yau Ma Tei corruption case in Hong Kong may be pushing the newly formed JPOA towards a radical stance that could lead to their doing "something foolish" (by which I assume he means a return to the near mutiny of last autumn).
2. The absence of any officially recognised body representing police officers of the rank of sergeant and below was one of the grievances which led to the disturbances in Hong Kong last October/November.
As part of the agreement reached in settling those disturbances, the Governor accepted the formation of the JPOA, which was registered on 8 December. By the end of 1977 well over two-thirds of the eligible officers had joined the Association.
3.
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The moving force behind the establishment of the Association was a self-appointed 18-man preparatory committee dominated by malcontents half of the Committee were interdicted officers.
This Committee however gave way on 23 February to a newly elected Executive Committee (for which interdicted officers were not eligible) in which the extremists, although represented, were no longer so dominant. The Government of Hong Kong hope that the
more moderate elements within the new Committee will be able to
ensure that the Association concentrates on working for improve- ments in the conditions of service of the membership as a whole, rather than devoting all its energies, as the militants would prefer, to supporting the cause of those under suspicion of
corruption.
4. A crucial factor in deciding whether the radicals gain control of the Association is likely to be the success they achieve in persuading the JPOA to give unqualified support to those involved in the Yau Ma Tei case. This is the last of the major syndicated
corruption cases under investigation by the ICAC, in which some
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