Old sea dog a surprise choice for marine post
THE old sea dog sat back, stroked the salt in his beard with one hand, raised a tankard of beer in the other and beamed his delight at his new appointment.
Mr Allan Pyrke, 59, was reacting to the surprise announcement of his appointment as Director of Marine, effective yesterday.
Unexpected and flattering, especially as he had expressed a wish to retire in October - that plan now goes into limbo.
''Yes, I am a mariner and I am delighted not just for myself, but for the entire department,'' he said.
Asked what had prompted the move away from administrative officers as director, he said: ''The problem with professional officers is we have been too insular. Most of us have not had experience outside the department. The job now demands that you know the wider picture. It's no longer enough to be able to blind people with your scientific knowledge of nautical matters. You also have to know how to deal with the district boards, talk to media and deal with all the other departments.'' Anyway, the decision had been made that the next posting should go to a professional officer, providing the right person could be found.
So what made him think he was that person? ''I have been exposed more to the wider picture than others in the department.'' Part of that was his being sent to attend an executive course at the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg in 1990.
Mr Pyrke succeeds Mr Tony Miller, who takes over from Mr Donald Tsang Yam-kuen as Director-General of Trade. Mr Miller's predecessor was Mr Michael Sze Cho-cheung, now Secretary for Constitutional Affairs.
On the matter of localisation, Mr Pyrke believes he was offered the job to train locals.
''Why else would they want to hang on to an old expatriate like me?'' He emphasised that localisation was only a policy of recruitment. It was clearly stated by the government that promotion would be on merit.
''As director, I don't intend to change anything for change's sake. I feel the department is working very well, and we're working on very exciting things in port.'' As befitting the post of Director of Marine, Mr Pyrke's favourite pastime is sailing.
He has an eight-metre ''folk'' boat. When he's not sailing that, he spends his leisure walking and readily confesses to tramping upwards of six to seven hours in one day in places like the Pat Sin Leng Range.
He often sails overnight to Macau, occasionally accompanied by his wife, Eve.
''But as soon as there's just enough wind to blow out a candle, she's accusing me of rocking the boat and making her sick,'' he said.
