Letters to the Editor, January 10, 2014

I agree with Philip Yeung's proposition that, while Hong Kong's senior public servants remain in a separate world of privilege, they will fail in their policymaking to meet the needs of the majority in the community ("The heart of policymaking", January 5).

But there is something that his article does not touch on which, in my view, also has a bearing on the failure of government to develop policies to deal with the issues that affect the people at large and, equally importantly, to implement them in a robust way with the necessary determination to make them effective.

That is, the apparent reluctance of senior officials and administrators to do anything that may be seen as a risk to their position and chances of promotion, which reinforces the innate conservatism of the bureaucracy. Public servants dislike change. Change means risk, possible failure and loss of face - and also real work.

It is arguable that the plethora of government committees and public consultations in Hong Kong are designed, not to determine the best course or decision to be taken, but rather to spread the risk so that no one takes responsibility for the outcome, and in particular for any unintended consequences.

Better by far, it would seem, to delay a decision until after the official concerned has taken up a new post, thus requiring his or her successor to begin the process of "reading themselves in" and consulting all over again.

The link between the avoidance of risk and Philip Yeung's argument that senior public servants are divorced from the realities faced by the majority of Hong Kong people would seem very clear.