A gentle press to impress
SO we now have a Chief Secretary who is not only Chinese, but a Chinese woman.
It is always a little suspicious when taboos are broken wholesale. Unkind questions pop into the mind uninvited. Could they not find a candidate who was disabled and Jewish as well? But this is clearly unfair. In the 60s, when the people now surfacing joined the Civil Service, most Hong Kong employers were even more rampantly sexist than they are now. The government service was a good choice for bright women and there are quite a lot of them in it.
Mrs Chan's appointment was the worst-kept secret in Hong Kong since Mr Michael Thomas's courtship of Mrs Thomas, and one of the pre-appointment pieces brought back old memories.
The writer harked back to the distant mid-80s and the case of one Kwok Ah-nui. On that occasion the Social Welfare Department (SWD), of which Mrs Chan was then director, was so overwhelmed by a desire to help that it besieged and stormed the home of a reluctant client.
Mrs Chan was subsequently, we were told, ''hounded by the media'' and ever since then her intercourse with reporters lacked the degree of bonhomie desirable in Chief Secretarial press relations.
Mrs Chan, the writer opined, would now have to improve her performance as a press petter.
The historical part of this appeared to be a second hand account. Civil servants usually say they should be accountable to the public. When the great moment arrives, though, the process is painful.
PRESS coverage is like a Latin verb. It changes according to whom we are talking about. He is being let off lightly; you are being held accountable by the media, I am being hounded.
Actually Mrs Chan was not hounded by the media, most of which merely reported critics and defenders alike. There was some feeling at the time (I still have the solicitors' letter somewhere) that she was hounded by me.
Let us not blow on old embers. Everyone concerned seems to have emerged unscathed. The SWD, despite the encouraging opinions gallantly produced by the Legal Department at the time, has not taken up breaking and entering as a mode of social work assistance.
One of Mrs Chan's leading antagonists is now in the Rest Home for Retired Rebels, otherwise known as the Legislative Council.
This should lead to a poignant social encounter, sooner or later.
The only question which we now need to worry about is whether at this early stage to give her a ''must try harder'' mark for press relations.
And the answer is ''no''. The trouble here is that a whole generation of civil servants have been misled by the example of Sir David Ford.
Sir David is a whizz at press relations. His success is based on an unusual attribute: he really likes reporters.
This is not as common as some reporters think it is. It is difficult to feel really relaxed and friendly with someone who can blow dry rot spores all over your promotion prospects with a careless word.
If you haven't got Sir David's confidence, liking for the press pack and knowledge of what it eats, it is better not to attempt his breezy style.
In fact it is better not to attempt a style at all. Reporters are supposed to collect facts dispassionately, but they have feelings like the rest of us, and tend to be suspicious creatures because so many people lie to them.
Any attempt to produce a desired impression can easily come across as condescension, or worse as manipulation.
All that is required is simple answers to simple questions. This is oddly difficult for very intelligent people.
All who deal with the press should remember the words of Groucho Marx. ''The secret of success in life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.''
