HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. WILSON T. S. WANG:- Mr. Chairman, my friend Mr. Wilfred WONG for the last three years in which I have had the pleasure of listening to his speeches, never fails to touch on corrupt practices in certain sections of the staff of the Department. Let me state from the outset that I prefer to subscribe to the conviction that government employees, like all other individuals, are reasonably reliable and trustworthy; and that corruption persists only because opportunities for corrupt practices prevail. Expose a person to temptations which have been placed, almost deliberately, in his path, and you can hardly blame that person if he weakens and succumbs to those temptations. I shall try to illustrate here a few instances to show how opportunities and temptations can arise in the performance of one's administrative duties.
Rules and regulations, when they were first drafted, were based on sound principles, more often than not, and a certain degree of elasticity has to be allowed when it comes to exercising them and putting them into practice. To all intents and purposes, this is meant to make these rules and regulations more practical, and to allow the government to show sympathy to the people and alleviate them of unnecessary hardships in the pursuit of their livelihood. But authority has to be delegated to exercise discretion, and in so doing allows some relaxation and a certain amount of discrepancies to exist; this fact means that there will always be opportunities for corruption, that there will always be temptations lying in the path of an officer performing his administrative duties. There are indeed chances for one to abuse his discretionary power, to err, not on the side of the public, but to his own personal advantage. An officer can, in effect, grant or show favouritism to whomsoever he chooses to please. The resultant sequence to this is not difficult to visualize. Temptation is too great for a person to resist what now becomes a quid pro quo for his supposed favours.
My submission is to call for a review of rules and regulations from time to time, to suspend or abrogate those that are found to be impracticable, and to publicize as widely as possible the amount of relaxation permissible, and are in fact necessary, for the practical application of a particular rule or regulation. The aim should be to help to eliminate the erroneous conception that the amount of laxity to the public comes, as of their rights, but not as a form of favour.
Time is money. It is no exaggeration to say that delay in granting approval may prove fatal to a new enterprise. It is therefore no wonder that applicants will readily offer monetary rewards to government employees if only they can be assured that by so doing they will be able to save time. What is there to prevent an officer holding an applicant in suspense on the pretext that his application is still pending in the department? But, let the applicant show his appreciation for the special priority which will be given him and, as sure as anything, the whole matter will be despatched with the utmost haste and courtesy!
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
The opportunity to inflict this kind of inconvenience is greater still when applications, requiring consideration and approval, have to go through several departments. What better means can be provided for government officers to "pass the buck" or push the applicant around till veritably, the poor victim is left at a complete loss to know what to do next. I appeal here for closer inter-departmental co-operation to streamline the system and so lessen this passing the buck around.
The last illustration which I have to offer is perhaps the most malignant and the most shameful one in the incidence of corruption. It may not strictly be described as "opportunities" but it undoubtedly constitutes one of the main roots to this evil and its presence complicates immeasurably what solution we may have to the problem. I refer to that body of men who are no better than social parasites and who go about telling people that they "know all about the rules and regulations", that they can "advise them" or help them make "the right contact" provided they pay for it.
It is, of course, possible that these "fakes" exist without the knowledge of the officers in charge, but it is not entirely improbable that some of them might have been engaged as "shadow workers". Whatever way it is, we should try to reduce the need for such kind of service. I propose that Government should provide a more comprehensive list of names of officers and their respective duties to enable people to make the right contact without having to go round for assistance. It might be advisable also for all government servants to display their identities either on their desk or on their uniform. Further, there should be a person at each enquiry counter in each office who should be well versed with this information, and who should be designated with the special duty of directing visitors to the right desk to meet the right officer. At present, it is almost literally true to say that one has to wander through a maze to look for the right officer to interview.
No one can expect a government to be 100% void of corruption; bad eggs there always will be in every community. What we can do—and we must do—is try to reduce corruption to its minimum and to prevent deterioration taking place. In this respect, I shall add that no amount of court proceedings can help us solve our problem. My submission is that we should concentrate on finding the avenues where "opportunities" and temptations are most likely to crop up and provide the necessary stop-gaps after close and careful study.
Mr. Chairman, with these remarks, I support the motion. (Applause).
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HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
MR. WILSON T. S. WANG:-Mr. Chairman, my friend Mr. Wilfred WONG for the last three years in which I have had the pleasure of listening to his speeches, never fails to touch on corrupt practices in certain sections of the staff of the Department. Let me state from the outset that I prefer to subscribe to the conviction that government employees, like all other individuals, are reasonably reliable and trust- worthy; and that corruption persists only because opportunities for corrupt practices prevail. Expose a person to temptations which have been placed, almost deliberately, in his path, and you can hardly blame that person if he weakens and succumbs to those temptations. I shall try to illustrate here a few instances to show how opportunities and temptations can arise in the performance of one's administrative duties.
Rules and regulations, when they were first drafted, were based on sound principles, more often than not, and a certain degree of elasticity has to be allowed when it comes to exercising them and putting them into practice. To all intents and purposes this is meant to make these rules and regulations more practical, and to allow the government to show sympathy to the people and alleviate them of unnecessary hard- ships in the pursuit of their livelihood. But authority has to be delegated to exercise discretion, and in so doing allows some relaxation and a certain amount of discrepancies to exist this fact means that there will always be opportunities for corruption, that there will always be temptations lying in the path of an officer performing his adminis- trative duties. There are indeed chances for one to abuse his dis- cretionary power, to err, not on the side of the public, but to his own personal advantage. An officer can, in effect, grant or show favouritism to whomsoever he chooses to please. The resultant sequence to this is not difficult to visualize. Temptation is too great for a person to resist what now becomes a quid pro quo for his supposed favours.
My submission is to call for a review of rules and regulations from time to time, to suspend or abrogate those that are found to be im- practicable, and to publicize as widely as possible the amount of relaxation permissible, and are in fact necessary, for the practical application of a particular rule or regulation. The aim should be to help to eliminate the erroneous conception that the amount of laxity to the public comes, as of their rights, but not as a form of favour.
Time is money. It is no exaggeration to say that delay in granting approval may prove fatal to a new enterprise. It is therefore no wonder that applicants will readily offer monetary rewards to government employees if only they can be assured that by so doing they will be able to save time. What is there to prevent an officer holding an applicant in suspense on the pretext that his application is still pending in the
HONG KONG URBAN COUNCIL
259
department? But, let the applicant show his appreciation for the special priority which will be given him and, as sure as anything, the whole matter will be despatched with the utmost haste and courtesy!
The opportunity to inflict this kind of inconvenience is greater still when applications, requiring consideration and approval, have to go through several departments. What better means can be provided for government officers to "pass the buck" or push the applicant around till veritably, the poor victim is left at a complete loss to know what to do next. I appeal here for closer inter-departmental co-operation to streamline the system and so lessen this passing the buck around.
The last illustration which I have to offer is perhaps the most malignant and the most shameful one in the incidence of corruption. It may not strictly be described as "opportunities" but it undoubtedly constitutes one of the main roots to this evil and its presence complicates immeasurably what solution we may have to the problem. I refer to that body of men who are no better than social parasites and who go about telling people that they "know all about the rules and regulations”, that they can "advise them" or help them make "the right contact" provided they pay for it.
It is, of course, possible that these "fakes" exist without the knowledge of the officers in charge, but it is not entirely improbable that some of them might have been engaged as "shadow workers". What- ever way it is, we should try to reduce the need for such kind of service. I propose that Government should provide a more comprehensive list of names of officers and their respective duties to enable people to make the right contact without having to go round for assistance. It might be advisable also for all government servants to display their identities either on their desk or on their uniform. Further, there should be a person at each enquiry counter in each office who should be well versed with this information, and who should be designated with the special duty of directing visitors to the right desk to meet the right officer. At present it is almost literally true to say that one has to wander through a maze to look for the right officer to interview.
No one can expect a government to be 100% void of corruption; bad eggs there always will be in every community. What we can do- and we must do is try to reduce corruption to its minimum and to prevent deterioration taking place. In this respect I shall add that no amount of court proceedings can help us solve our problem. My sub- mission is that we should concentrate on finding the avenues where "opportunities" and temptations are most likely to crop up and provide the necessary stop-gaps after close and careful study.
Mr. Chairman, with these remarks, I support the motion. (Applause).
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.