AT first blush the Government's plan to raise the entertainment allowance for the Chief Secretary, Anson Chan Fang On-sang, seems outrageous. Mrs Chan earns about $1.87 million a year. Her finances would hardly be ruined if she spent some of her own moneyon entertainment. As it is, she is entitled to an allowance of $252,000 a year. The Government wants to increase it by 30 per cent - to $327,600.
Yet no one should rush to judgment. There is nothing wrong, in principle, with the idea that senior government figures should receive an entertainment allowance. Hong Kong is not a poor society and the government is not bankrupt. It has no need to imposeon its officers the burden of paying for essential entertainment.
If the principle is accepted, then the proposed increase for Mrs Chan might well be justified. She is new to the position and needs to make contact with more people than did her predecessor. As the first Chinese Chief Secretary she also has a wider set of obligations to fulfil. And, as a Chinese, she has a big role to play in rebuilding bridges that have been damaged by the political clashes of the past 18 months.
The Legislative Council's Finance Committee will have to approve the increase. It should ask the Government to explain the rise. But it should not start from the assumption that it cannot be justified.
