Why is Hong Kong still giving out colonial-era perks to its civil servants?

Peter Kammerer says the billions of dollars of taxpayer money being spent on benefits that once made sense for expat officials in a hardship posting defy logic in today’s Hong Kong

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Principal officials in Leung Chun-ying’s government line up in June 2012 after their nominations were approved by Beijing. Photo: David Wong

Published: 1:52pm, 27 Mar 2017Updated: 9:14pm, 27 Mar 2017

Hong Kong cast off its colonial shackles and became one again with China almost 20 years ago. That’s a generation, the time it takes to raise a family or, in monetary terms, the typical length of a mortgage for a flat. Yet tens of thousands of civil servants still get the sort of perks that British expatriates received for what was once considered a hardship posting. Spacious flats in prestigious locations, housing allowances and even overseas education for children are on offer with the appropriate rank, salary level and years of service.

The various schemes cost taxpayers billions of dollars a year. They provide homes, help pay off mortgages or are cash in the bank. They are over and above salaries and conditions that are often generous by private-sector terms.

Lucky are those who get such benefits, some of which no longer apply to officials being recruited today. But the question has to be asked: why are some of these benefits still being handed out? Overseas-posted Brits once received them, yet those who now get them are largely a homegrown workforce. Unlike foreigners, a place to live and finding a good school are not problems.

Let’s start with housing. Three broad types are managed by the Government Property Agency. In 2015, the latest year for which figures are available, 23,520 flats or houses were provided, the vast majority of them for police officers, firefighters, the judiciary and the like. Of the total, 169 were tied to government posts, with the chief executive, chief secretary and the financial secretary receiving the most prestigious properties.

Acting Financial Secretary Paul Chan justified the HK$830,000 renovation cost of his official residence on Shouson Hill Road by saying that he sometimes needed to entertain foreign guests. But, in a city with so many hotels, that is the lamest of excuses. Photo: Edward Wong

Acting Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po’s reported spending of HK$830,000 to renovate the 40,000 sq ft official residence at 45 Shouson Hill Road piqued my attention. Why is there a need for the government to maintain such a property? Chan justified the renovation cost by explaining that, in his new role, he sometimes needed to entertain foreign guests. But, in a city with so many hotels, that is the lamest of excuses.

A person in his position whose job is to make the best possible use of public finances should instead be saying he doesn’t need an official residence as he already has a perfectly fine home, so let’s end this wasteful use of resources and offload the property onto the private market. Excess properties are already gradually being sold off.