The Sars crisis is engraved in Hong Kong's psyche. Documentary and anecdotal records belong to our city's history. It is important that they be saved for future generations. Many, however, would sooner forget the controversial HarbourFest concerts, a HK$100 million post-Sars idea to help restore the city's confidence and show the world it was back in business. After three inquiries into the blunders that turned the project into a huge and costly disappointment, there may be little left to tell. But the chapter would not be complete without the version of the only official to be held accountable for what went wrong, particularly since a judge set aside a finding of misconduct against him by a civil-service disciplinary panel.

Former InvestHK director Mike Rowse was given joint responsibility for organising the event with the American Chamber of Commerce. He has always maintained he was made a scapegoat for the fiasco, which was supposed to have been overseen and co-ordinated by a working group that included six ministers and the senior aide to the chief executive. There is certainly room for more transparency. Now he has written a book, to be published on Tuesday, titled No Minister: The True Story of HarbourFest.

Thanks to the Civil Service Bureau, it has received some unexpected advance publicity. As we report today, the bureau has written to Rowse about his book just ahead of the launch. The former senior civil servant would not confirm that this indicates concern on the part of officials over its contents, even though he says he has followed advice he sought from the bureau in May about compliance with confidentiality rules.