Civil service stalwart reveals intricacies of handover politics

Sir David Akers-Jones has joined a small number of retired civil servants and policy makers to have published a memoir. For students of Hong Kong history, Feeling the Stones provides valuable insights into the mind of the former chief secretary who was closely involved in shaping Hong Kong's destiny.

Arriving in 1957, Sir David started his career as a district officer in the New Territories when the region was largely rural and where he grew to love the people who regarded him and his contemporaries as the so-called fu mo guan, or parent official, in the Chinese tradition.

As a member of the Executive Council from 1978 until his retirement in 1987, he was privy to the Sino-British talks on Hong Kong's future after the 1997 handover and the secret negotiations on the drafting of the Basic Law.

However, for being publicly critical of the last governor Chris Patten's controversial move to broaden the electorate in 1992 - in what China considered to be a breach of the Basic Law - he was castigated by those who believe the best thing an ex-civil servant should do is keep his mouth shut.

Those who feel Hong Kong's best defence against being subsumed under communist rule after the handover is to develop a political system that can insulate itself from the mainland also reject his view that China's concerns should be taken into account in mapping out the city's future.

Having worked closely with three governors - Sir Murray MacLehose, Sir Edward Youde and Sir David Wilson - in ensuring Hong Kong would have a secure future under Chinese sovereignty, including the gradual introduction of representative government without provoking Beijing, Sir David obviously feels he should set the record straight.

The reader can deduce from his words that he felt duty bound to become an adviser to China - for which he was branded a traitor by his detractors - so as to personally honour the British side of the bargain over Hong Kong, because Her Majesty's Government had, quite dishonourably, betrayed the Chinese.