A moral compass with confused directions

Last week, the government published a civil service code, which sets out the core value of civil servants and their relationship with the politically appointed officials under the accountability system. This belated document came one year after the new batch of undersecretaries and political assistants took up their posts. Still, it is important to examine some of the code's key provisions and assess their impact on the government's operation.

The code lays down six core values of the civil service: commitment to the rule of law; honesty and integrity; objectivity and impartiality; political neutrality; accountability for decisions and actions; and, dedication, professionalism and diligence. Politically appointed officers are required to uphold and promote these values.

The provisions on political neutrality are similar to the British civil service code. For example, Hong Kong civil servants should serve the government of the day with total loyalty; they should not allow their personal political views to affect their advice or decisions, and they should not engage in party political activities.

But, unlike in Britain, where very few members of Parliament are independent of any party, between a third and a half of our legislators say they have no party affiliation. In practice, most of our independent legislators work closely with the major parties. It is therefore appropriate for the secretary for the civil service, who administers the code, to define 'party political activities' with some flexibility.

Section 5 of the code deals with the roles and responsibilities of civil servants in relation to politically appointed officials, and section 6 deals with the relationship between these two groups. As now worded, some provisions may cause problems.

First, the code requires civil servants to assist politically appointed officials in 'presenting and explaining' government policies to the legislature, political parties and the media, etc. But it provides no detailed guidelines on the form of assistance. In Britain, civil servants accompanying ministers or their deputies do not speak up publicly; they assist mainly through briefs prepared beforehand or notes written on the spot.