Embrace Beijing and pay ministers more, ex-leader Tung Chee-hwa urges Hong Kong
Training and higher pay would raise ministerial standards, Tung Chee-hwa says, and city has ‘everything to gain’ through closer mainland ties
Hong Kong’s first post-colonial leader, Tung Chee-hwa, has urged the city to groom ministerial talent and forge closer ties with the mainland, saying it has “everything to gain when things work well with China and everything to lose when we don’t work with China”.
In a rare admission during an exclusive interview with the Post, the former chief executive noted the difficulty in recruiting talent from outside the civil service for top positions under the ministerial system he created 15 years ago, blaming it on unattractive pay packages, political division and lack of training.
Tung introduced the Principal Officials Accountability System in 2002 to improve governance and attract talent from the private sector. It allowed the chief executive to fill ministerial posts with political appointees instead of being restricted to a talent pool of career bureaucrats.
The idea was that politically appointed top officials would be more sensitive to public expectations in policymaking, as their job would depend on ability rather than seniority with a civil servant’s iron rice bowl mentality.