Wen | Zeng Cai'an
At the critical juncture of Hong Kong's governance and rejuvenation, coupled with the uncertain nature of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, Chief Executive John Lee's first Policy Address is particularly eye-catching. The layout, format and interpretation of the Policy Address have undergone breakthrough changes, and there are many innovative and unique features in the content, one of which is to incorporate steps to optimize the reward and punishment system for civil servants and openly accept supervision.
The inclusion of the reward and punishment mechanism in the Policy Address is an unprecedented work
In the column "Governance Measures 3: Focus on Improving the Level of Governance", optimizing the reward and punishment system for civil servants accounts for more than half of the space, detailing the details of rewards and punishments. In terms of rewards, the "Chief Executive's Commendation List" Award Scheme will be launched to publicly commend exemplary events, teams or personnel every three to six months from 2023 on a regular basis" and "early identification, training and promotion of some junior personnel with potential, commitment and outstanding performance"; Penalties include "strengthen supervision and assistance to personnel with poor performance, and terminate their employment in a timely manner if their performance continues to fail to improve" and "optimize the disciplinary mechanism and punish those who violate discipline as soon as possible in accordance with the principle of fairness and justice." ”
In other words, Chief Executive Lee has made a real move in the "second handle of criminal morality", and civil servants who perform particularly well will be praised and rewarded by him, and at the same time, they will be promoted in a focused manner, and seniority is not the only consideration. At the same time, civil servants with poor performance are punished, and those who continue to fail to improve are "fired". The Hong Kong Chief Executive's detailed inclusion of the reward and punishment mechanism in the "Policy Address" can be regarded as an unprecedented masterpiece, and we can also see how serious the problem here is, and it is urgent to not delay and not to scrape the bones with heavy hands to cure the poison.
Beware of lazy public servants exploiting loopholes in the law
Li Te's first self-establishment in the police force is naturally proficient in enforcing discipline and clearly distinguishing rewards and punishments. In addition to complying with the Civil Service Code, police officers are also bound by the strict Police (Discipline) Regulations, which are easier to deal with than ordinary civilian civil servants. But even so, there are many lazy officers in the Hong Kong Police Force who use various tricks to exploit the loopholes of the law, but the management has no choice but to do so.
Having worked in the Personnel Wing of the Police Headquarters for six years and in charge of Force discipline for two years, I am familiar with the problems and difficulties. Imagine a highly disciplined police force that struggles in enforcing discipline, not to mention civilian officers who only need to comply with the relatively lenient Civil Service Code. This time, Chief Executive Lee took the right remedy and explicitly stated that he would update the "Civil Service Code," which is obviously to make a crucial foreshadowing for follow-up action. However, the devil is in the details, and the rules and regulations are one thing, and the successful implementation is another, because no government code and regulations can touch the bottom line of the law.
Under Hong Kong law, the HKSAR Government needs to overcome a number of technical difficulties in terminating the employment of a civil servant, and if this person is a "Hong Kong independence yellow silk", the difficulties will be doubled, because there will inevitably be some fellow travelers in the legal profession who will help them to exploit legal loopholes. The enemy, lest the SAR government not die and Hong Kong not chaos, will absolutely not watch the "infernal affairs" or "silverworms" in the government team being targeted and eliminated, and will certainly do everything possible to consume the time and energy of the SAR officials and attack the prestige of the government. Although the notorious "judicial review monster" Kwok Cheuk-kin is not a civil servant, he has always adopted similar tactics against the government, and the success rate is so high that challenging the government on needle-free paper is the latest "masterpiece".
My past experience tells me that the Disability Discrimination Ordinance (Cap. 487) is a law that is often 'used'. Some police officers with poor work ethics "create" accidents (it doesn't matter when they are at work or in their personal time) and then go to government doctors to complain about sprained lower backs and can only work outside of patrol or shift work. Once doctor's papers are obtained, these personnel are assigned to light daytime work. After that, they will return to the doctor regularly to complain to the doctor that the lower back and lumbar neuralgia continues (basically cannot be tested for authenticity), and after a period of time, these people will be included in the "Health Impaired" list, and since then they have won the "gold medal without speculation".
According to the Disability Discrimination Act, any employer (including the Hong Kong government) must do everything possible to arrange a suitable job for a disabled (impaired health) employee, even if it involves modifying some facilities in the company, such as special furniture and equipment, special passages, etc., and must not discriminate against him because of his physical condition. Without asking for rewards and punishing them, these people who pretend to be sick not only become a burden, but some of them are even lazy and slack off when they are more comfortable, but their superiors still have to buy them and coax them not to cry, make trouble, and hang themselves.
There are instigators behind the lazy public servant
In addition, most of these people have black hands behind them, and will instigate them to apply for legal aid to entangle with the HKSAR Government in accordance with the Human Rights Legislation, Privacy Legislation, Judicial Review and other laws as appropriate. Some people may say, don't you give these examples here to teach some people who don't understand to draw gourds in the same way, causing a negative impact? You may not know that these legal loopholes have been around for a long time, and everyone knows them, and the enemy is even more familiar with it, more sophisticated than anyone, and does not need to be told by others.
Relevant cases that have occurred over the years show that this optimization of the reward and punishment system for civil servants is by no means a simple management issue, but a contested ground for soldiers, and success or failure affects the overall situation, and internal and external enemies will certainly try their best to take advantage of legal loopholes to erect obstacles everywhere and resist step by step. Chairman Mao Zedong once said, "After the political line is determined, cadres are the decisive factor." Therefore, this is a hurdle that the SAR government must cross, otherwise it will affect all other fronts.
The battle between the enemy and me is just around the corner, and I hope that Li Teshou will gather his soldiers and horses, do his best, and fight a beautiful war of annihilation!
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