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community at all levels. It was not just the big guys.
The late Sir Murray (later Lord) MacLehose, Governor from 1971 to 1982, soon appreciated the problem, Hong Kong has him to thank for setting up the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC), in 1974. It was a bold step but it has been effective.
For me personally, during my career with Government, I was never directly affected by corruption in any shape or form. Nevertheless, one needs to ask when does tipping and present-giving stop and when does corruption begin?
Personalities
People and personalities have played important parts in Hong Kong's history. Sir John Cowperthwaite, Financial Secretary (FS) from 1961 to 1971, although very successful, worked more on an ad hoc basis than his successors. He saw limited need to collect statistics which would (he believed) encourage government to draw up economic plans and interfere in the private sector and the free movement of market forces. He believed government should not ‘get involved.'
Yet, in spite of the post of FS being stressful, many of them were a long-lived breed. Some who served Hong Kong either before or just after World War Two carried on drawing their pensions into their nineties. A great deal of credit must go to our past Financial Secretaries for helping to lay foundations for the Hong Kong we know today.
Conclusions
Certainly the 1950s and the '60s were eventful decades and, during the latter part of the 1960s and '70s especially, Hong Kong made strides in leaving its colonial past behind. It took on a new mantle. Many things surreptitiously changed.
Entire skylines altered dramatically every decade or so. In the 1960s, Tsing Yi Island was being considered for the site for a nudist colony. Now it is heavily built upon. From 1857 until 1975 we had a cricket pitch in the centre of town. Gracious, old, colonial style buildings were torn down, We needed those to depend upon for the reassurances
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community at all levels. It was not just the big guys.
The late Sir Murray (later Lord) MacLehose, Governor from 1971 to 1982, soon appreciated the problem, Hong Kong has him to thank for setting up the Independent Commission against Corruption (ICAC), in 1974. It was a bold step but it has been effective.
For me personally, during my career with Government, I was never directly affected by corruption in any shape or form. Nevertheless, one needs to ask when does tipping and present-giving stop and when does corruption begin?
Personalities
People and personalities have played important parts in Hong Kong's history. Sir John Cowperthwaite, Financial Secretary (FS) from 1961 to 1971, although very successful, worked more on an ad hoc basis than his successors. He saw limited need to collect statistics which would (he believed) encourage government to draw up economic plans and interfere in the private sector and the free movement of market forces. He believed government should not ‘get involved.'
Yet, in spite of the post of FS being stressful, many of them were a long-lived breed. Some who served Hong Kong either before or just after World War Two carried on drawing their pensions into their nineties. A great deal of credit must go to our past Financial Secretaries for helping to lay foundations for the Hong Kong we know today.
Conclusions
Certainly the 1950s and the '60s were eventful decades and, during the latter part of the 1960s and '70s especially, Hong Kong made strides in leaving its colonial past behind. It took on a new mantle. Many things surreptitiously changed.
Entire skylines altered dramatically every decade or so. In the 1960s, Tsing Yi Island was being considered for the site for a nudist colony. Now it is heavily built upon. From 1857 until 1975 we had a cricket pitch in the centre of town. Gracious, old, colonial style buildings were torn down, We needed those to depend upon for the reassurances
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