TNAG-2669-FCO40-3866-Hong-Kong-Civil-Service-1993 — Page 69

the senior non-expatriate officers association

room G13 central government offices

east wing ground floor

lower albert road

hong kong

our ref.

your ref.

g.p.o. box 1007 telephone 5224267

Mr Morris Fi

Mn Whin 4/10

for All qu вы

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Tel

: 751 4105

Fax : 755 4615

Date: 20 September 1993

117

Rt Hon Alastair Goodlad

Minister of State for Foreign

and Commonwealth Affairs

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Main Building

Downing Street

London SWI

United Kingdom

Dear Sir,

HKD

Form DRAFT REPLY

HKA 01611

From

MR GOODLAD

6 OCT 1993

By 4/10/93 PLEASE.

DESK OFFIC

Neal Gart

Localisation Policy in the Hong Kong Civil Service

we

Due to the current change

change of the localisation policy, write to explain our objection to the new arrangement, which enables overseas officers on agreement terms to change to local terms and also outline in this letter our views on this subject for your perusal.

The crux of the matter

In our view the fundamental issues in this row are : Is the present employment system of the Hong Kong Government discriminatory against local people?

people? And would the new policy prolong the effects of such discrimination?

also had

For a long time, the Hong Kong Government has offered more favourable terms to overseas officers. Despite recent adjustments, the differences still remain quite substantial. Besides, overseas officers an advantage over local officers in being promoted to senior ranks. This has resulted in the present anomalous situation that after years of so-called localisation, nearly 40% of the policy-making posts of the Government are still held by overseas officers who comprise only about 1% of the total population.

Our objection to the new arrangement

We object to the new arrangement on the following grounds :

(a), The new arrangement negates the long-standing localisation policy, which aims at mitigating and rectifying the century-long unfairness suffered by local officers.

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