TNAG-2686-FCO40-3888-Hong-Kong-Her-Majesty-s-Overseas-Civil-Service-(HMOCS)-poli-1993 — Page 73

CONFIDENTIAL >

PERSONAL

THE ASSOCIATION OF MEMBERS OF HER MAJESTY'S OVERSEAS CIVIL SERVICE IN HONG KONG

31st Floor Revenue Tower

5 Gloucester Road, Wanchal, Hong Kong

Mr M J C Waters

Civil Service Branch

Government Secretariat

HONG KONG

HMOCS Arrangements

28 April 1993

Dear Mike,

Ι

am afraid your letter of 22 April 1993 takes us no further forward.

As you know, we have been led to believe for months that a decision was imminent and could be expected soon.

The Committee's credibility with the membership is now beginning to wear extremely thin. The text of your letter does nothing to help us counter the arguments Of the growing number of members who are coming to believe that we are just being strung along and that HMG is preparing to act dishonourably. Why else would the Prime Minister himself have been unable to endorse a straightforward package in accordance with clearly established practice set out in British Government policy documents published in the fifties and sixties and honoured in fifty or so other dependent territories?

Committee

Before the Governor's recent visit to London the had advised the membership, as you were well 2ware at the time, that we had been given to understand that a decision from London was imminent and that we hoped to be able to call a general meeting to consider the expected proposal probably before the end of April. It is now clear from your letter that a decision has not been taken and we do not even have a time frame for one. The Committee is now likely to be pushed into holding a general meeting sometime in May and if that happens without a proposal from London on the table, members' patience is likely to snap. This could result in a much more activist and

committee that aggressive

would pursue the subject through all possible channels in UK regardless of the undesirable publicity that that might generate for the administration in Hong Kong. Once the genie is out of the bottle it will be very difficult, if not impossible, to get it back in again.

!

CONFIDENTIAL

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