Since the Hong Kong government enforced compulsory oath-taking to uphold the Basic Law, declare loyalty to the government, and dedicate themselves to serving the government, the number of civil servants resigning has risen significantly.
The number of resignations in civil services doubled from nearly 2,000 people in 2020/21 to almost 4,000 people in 2021/22.
Current affairs commentators believed that the politicized workspace forced civil servants to perform tasks that might violate their conscience, resulting in them quitting their jobs.
The Civil Service Bureau submitted a report recently to the Legislative Council to reveal the situation.
Based on the document, the Hong Kong government lost 10,500 civil servants last year, accounting for about 5.9 percent of the available civil servant positions. The report suggested that the main reason for about 6,100 public servants leaving was retirement. Others left upon contract completion and death.
The report claimed that the number of civil servants who had resigned in recent years had “increased slightly,” and “the number of resignations had little impact on the authority’s operation.”
The Hong Kong government did not specify the number of resignations in total, which was opposed to how the authorities disclosed the total number of civil servant retirements between 2021/22, which was “approximately 6,100 people.”
A line graph showed the quitting trend in public servants from 2007 to 2015. The number of civil servants handing in their notice was no more than 1,000 yearly. However, there was an overall increasing trend.
Then in 2015/16, the number skyrocketed when over 1,000 people quit after the Umbrella Movement. The figures doubled in both fiscal years of 2020/21 and 2021/22, resulting in almost 2,000 and 4,000, respectively.
Online program host Anthony Cho Ka-chiu deliberated on his show, “The Hong Kong government would not provide the number of civil servant resignations or reveal which department was struck the hardest.”
Cho reckoned the Hong Kong Police Force might have been the most disastrous in workers resigning, as a police recruitment day was listed explicitly in the “filling in job openings” section.
Joe Chow Yat-ming, a deputy commissioner of the police (DCP), admitted to the media in October that the police force had been experiencing challenges with recruitment.
Chow thought the decline in the overall labor supply was caused by the reduced interest young people had in working for the government. “There are over 5,000 vacant positions in the Hong Kong Police Force,” said the deputy commissioner.
From April to September 2022, 1,816 people applied for the inspector positions, while 2,654 people applied for the police constable openings.
Compare this to the same period in 2021. The numbers have decreased by 12 percent and 15 percent, respectively.
The Hong Kong Police Force had been recruiting all year. Chris Tang Ping-keung, secretary for security, expressed in May that the shortage of police officers had reached 18 percent. Tang said the police department had also upped the salary points for in-rank service. He hoped to encourage and retain members of staff in law enforcement.
Workers Find Oath-Taking Is a Turnoff
The Civil Service Bureau introduced the oath-taking arrangements for new and current civil servants in October 2020 and January 2021, respectively. It required all civil servants to swear to uphold the Basic Law and serve the Hong Kong government with loyalty, responsibility, and dedication.Tsang Kwok-wai, the director of the Constitution and Mainland Affairs, said in response to questions by the Legislative Council in June 2022 that 129 civil servants in total ignored and refused to sign or return their declaration statement without any reasonable explanation. All of them left by the end of 2021.
Civil workers left due to other reasons, such as termination of employment per the Civil Service Regulations, probationary terms, and early retirement. Other resignations were from the employees themselves or dismissal in discipline violation.
Public Servants Walking on Eggshells
Former RTHK host Ng Chi-sum argued that, contrary to public belief, many government jobs could pay less than the business community could offer. However, when the economy became unstable, working within the public servant system in Hong Kong became a haven.“Having civil servants sworn in 2021 did not change the result in resignations. The politicized environment dragged civil servants to perform tasks that might violate their conscience,” Ng concluded.
Fear Over Declaring One’s Loyalty and Political Retaliation
Ng analyzed that some civil servants might only become concerned after signing the loyalty declaration. He said the civil servants worried the statement might restrict their public voices. “Considering the current political environment in Hong Kong, the government workers fear political retaliation or consequences,” Ng explained.Ng said that before the authorities set up a candidate qualification review committee, an administrative officer would be assigned to be a “gatekeeper.” The task of the administrative officers was to disqualify candidates with random crimes and charges.
Librarians were asked to pull books off the shelf, deemed a threat to national security and the Hong Kong government. “The government employees are concerned that any difference of opinion might be seen as violating the declaration. Some civil servants might find the task unacceptable.” Ng said everything the government did was moving further away from core values.
A senior civil servant, Ms. Yee (Pseudo), detailed in an interview with The Epoch Times that she had a family of two children and four elderly to feed at home. She was already planning to leave Hong Kong before the oath-taking became a requirement. However, since migrating to another country would take time, Yee decided to swear in first.
Ms. Yee explained, “By the time I was informed about the oath-taking, I was already selling my apartment. My plan of moving away from Hong Kong had been in motion.”
Yee said her resignation was sparked because she could not feel settled with the continuous erosion of the freedoms she once had in Hong Kong. She also said she did not want to see her children grow up in a brainwashing environment tainted by the CCP.
“In the office, only pro-Beijing People can express their political views loudly. Others choose to stay silent as they are scared of being denounced. I feel so repressed.” Ms. Yee quit mid-2022 and migrated to Canada through the Canadian lifeboat schemes for Hong Kong residents.
A netizen commented on Ng’s program that he used to work for RTHK. But that changed when the government made the declaration of loyalty compulsory. He left and moved to the UK. “The reason is simple. I was pressured to swear in. Since I used to work in the public affair unit, I watched the democratic councilors I met being sent to jail. I cannot stay here [Hong Kong] anymore.” The netizen wrote.
Another netizen wrote that he was a part-time coach at the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) from 1998 to 2021. “The LCSD fired me because I did not sign the declaration statement.”
The Hong Kong Government Loses New Blood
The number and ratio of civil servants aged between 20 and 29 have reduced.The Hong Kong government report revealed that civil servants aged between 20 and 29 only made up 14.3 percent of the total civil servants in 2022, versus 15.7 percent in 2019.
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