SIR David Akers-Jones recently returned from Beijing announcing that, amongst other things, he discussed ''the morale of the Hongkong civil service'' with the Communist Party leadership.
I have been a Hongkong civil servant for the past 26 years and I am sure that my own civil service staff association has not authorised, requested or agreed to this dubious initiative.
Sir David is a retired Chief Secretary with extensive connections in the local business community and the representatives of the indigenous population of the New Territories. He may justifiably claim to represent these interests, but he has not been elected to a District Board, Regional Council, the Urban Council or the Legislative Council, by either of these groups, nor yet by the civil service as a whole within the Governor's proposed new functional constituency.
By making this public announcement, he is presumably trying to give the impression to the Hongkong population that the whole of the Hongkong civil service has a ''1997'' morale problem, that the Hongkong Government is either unable or unwilling to do anything about it and that the Communist Party leadership in Beijing can. No doubt he believes sincerely in what he has done and intends to do. But he doesn't have my mandate and never will. Nor do I believe that he has the mandate of the majority of the Hongkong civil service, and he should put it to the test by standing for ejection (sic) at the first opportunity, along with all his political bed-fellows.
I personally hope the 1995 ''fair, open and acceptable'' elections, will at long last rid us of all those people who claim to know better than the rest of us but will not put their credibility or acceptability to the ultimate acid election test.
I look forward to the Legco debate on the Governor's proposals. It should be interesting, to say the least.