Joseph Wong
Although he now enjoys a quiet life as a university professor, former Secretary for the Civil Service Joseph Wong has been vocal about the government’s wrongdoings. He gives June Ng his insider’s view on bureaucracy, illiteracy and not always telling the truth.
I never studied abroad until I became an administrative officer. It was funded by the government, a postgraduate program at Oxford in the ’70s.
The cultural exposure was the most valuable part of that experience. I was twentysomething at the time, and I used to think “gay” only meant “joyous.”
In colonial days, everything was about group decisions, group responsibility. So in a way, no one took responsibility.
It’s unfair to say we had fewer problems back then. The impression is that people didn’t care as much, so they didn’t ask or expect much of the colonial government.
Things should be different under the Accountability System—that’s because Hong Kong people are running Hong Kong.
If the system is executed well, it should be expanded. But apparently it’s not being executed well, as we saw last year from the saga surrounding the appointment of an undersecretary.