FROM the exchanges that have taken place between Lu Ping and Chris Patten over civil servants' nationality, I - an ordinary civil servant - can see how worried Mr Lu is about this matter. While his concern is understandable, he has taken the wrong approach.
I expect my future employers in the Special Administrative Region government to keep my personal information confidential. I expect the same of my present employers. The Governor's response over this issue last week was totally correct.
It is an open secret who does and does not have British nationality. But does it really matter what sort of passport a civil servant holds? Mr Lu should realise that if a civil servant has loyally served his present employers, he is just as likely to loyally serve his employers after 1997.
As a civil servant, my main priority is my job and my standard of living. If the Chinese Government is trying to say that if you served a colonial administration, you are not patriotic, then why has it waited till now to say this? Why did it not make this point before the signing of the Joint Declaration? Perhaps Mr Lu has been wrongly advised. If so, his advisers should be held accountable.
K. M. HUNG Taikoo Shing
