Hearings are becoming a smear campaign, says former education chief Fanny Law
The inquiry into alleged government interference in the affairs of the Hong Kong Institute of Education had sent 'shivers down the spine' of civil servants who were often 'targets of attack' from sectoral interests, former permanent secretary for education and manpower Fanny Law Fan Chiu-fun said yesterday.
Mrs Law, who has rejected claims she put pressure on the institute's president, Paul Morris, to fire four academics for publicly criticising education policies, said the inquiry had turned into a smear campaign.
Concluding her testimony yesterday, Mrs Law testified that the inquiry had wide ramifications for the future role of civil servants.
'I have received some representations of views from my colleagues that we may have to rethink the role of the civil service in the future under the accountability system,' said Mrs Law, commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption. 'It appears that while we try to be neutral to protect the interests of the public as a whole, we often become targets of attack from sectoral interests.
'The discovery that this inquiry has made did send some shivers down [civil servants' spines].'
The 'very big question mark', Mrs Law said, was whether civil servants should record in writing all future communications with people outside the government. She said it had become a joke among civil servants to ask, 'Is our conversation being recorded?' and 'Will our e-mails become the subject of an inquiry?'