ENG-1980 — Page 24

REVIEW

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of labour disputes that have ravaged the industrial countries of the West, though this could change if employers misread the growing recognition by workers of their rights and their demands for a fairer share of the wealth that their labours have generated.

Pitfalls of Prosperity

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By any standard, Hong Kong ranks with the major cities of the world in terms of prosperity and affluence - as its spectacular skyline and busy harbour clearly show - though the con- trasts of life persist and are evident to every visitor. Affluence has brought in its wake an increasing concern over what is thought by some to be a peculiarly oriental custom but is, in fact, universal. "Tea money' is as old an institution as Hong Kong itself, and among the crimes which flourished during the boom years of the early 1970s was not individual but institutional bribery, better known in Hong Kong as syndicated corruption. In this enter- prise, whole gangs were 'on the take' in a highly organised money-collecting racket. And it was evident to all, after a detailed official investigation into the affairs of a corrupt police officer who fled from Hong Kong to avoid arrest, that the problem had reached a stage calling for drastic remedies.

Hong Kong had long questioned whether the investigation of bribery should remain a police or indeed a government function, and the recommendation of the Commission of Inquiry was that a separate and independent body should be set up. This was in keeping with the clear wish of the people to pursue a clean and open administration, coupled with a change in the old ways of doing business.

Under the capable leadership of an experienced civil servant, the Independent Commis- sion Against Corruption was set up in 1974 and shortly after, it launched a three-pronged drive aimed not just at prosecution but prevention of corruption, and community relations. Its success was such that within a few years it was able to announce that the most blatant forms of syndicated corruption had been purged from the police force and government. The success of the ICAC was not by any means an uncontested victory and Hong Kong experienced in 1977, a backlash demonstration by a group of disgruntled policemen which created widespread shock waves throughout the territory. A portion of this group descended on the headquarters of the commission and assaulted some members of the staff. Shortly after, rank and file members of the force sought a representative voice by applying for and obtaining permission to create a Junior Police Officers Association.

This was an agonising time for Hong Kong, with some arguing that the ICAC had con- centrated too much of its effort against the police force, and others, that the commission had rightly acted on the basis of reports made to it by the public. The declaration of an amnesty by the Governor for offences committed before 1977 drew a mixed reaction from the public and the police force; and though disputed by sections of the media, the announce- ment temporarily averted a crisis. It also gave time for the public to declare its support for the government on condition that no further concessions were made and that investiga- tions of current cases of corruption would continue. The incident, though potentially serious and damaging to local confidence, prompted critical examination of the police force. For it was apparent that while the direct causes of the dispute were to be found in the measures to clean-up corruption, the force itself was in need of change following the rapid build-up of its strength to 20,000 men and women during the crime-racked days of the mid- 1970s. This in turn was the consequence of the massive rise in prosperity in the early years of the decade, followed by the hard times of the mid-1970s.

A team of leading British police officers visited Hong Kong in the aftermath of these events to help senior officers of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force to undertake a thorough