Blasts from past: colonial symbols or cultural icons

With precarious bamboo scaffolding pointing to it, passers-by saw something many had not noticed before - a tiny crown on the top of the domed roof of the Legislative Council. Small, but a potent symbol of British sovereignty.

A month later, and with the handover just around the corner, the fate of the crown, along with that of a coat-of-arms on the outside of the Legco building, is still in the balance, illustrating the difficulties the Government is facing removing the physical vestiges of colonialism before the handover.

Complicating the issue of the Legco crown and coat-of-arms is the Antiquities and Monuments Ordinance, under which the exterior of the building may only be altered with the consent of the Secretary for Recreation and Culture.

And the Legco Commission, a panel of 11 Legco members which deals with internal matters, has told the Chief Secretary's office that it wants the two exterior symbols to remain in place, Legco spokesperson Emily Pang Kit-ling said.

But the matter of the Legco symbols, and other objects which have connotations of British sovereignty, may also have been confused by vague guidelines on colonial relics, first issued by the Government in a two-page internal memo in mid-1995.

The memo, which has been re-issued several times since to harry tardy bureaucrats, simply advised departments that symbols of British sovereignty would have to be removed before the handover, and cited examples such as British flags and seals, according to Daniel Mak Wah-hung, head of the Departmental Administration Unit which has been handling the issue.

'It would not have been prudent for us to have given very specific guidelines, because they couldn't cover all cases and all situations,' Mr Mak said. 'We have delegated the authority to each department to decide. Most departments are able to make up their own minds.' Since 1995, government departments have been providing the Chief Secretary's office with lists of colonial symbols which they think belong in museums or the Public Records Office, Mr Mak said. So far, these lists contain about 150 items including flags, seals, stationery, briefcases and furniture.