Patrick Nip Urged To Listen To Frontline Workers

The head of the Senior Government Officers Association has urged newly-installed Civil Service chief Patrick Nip to listen to the views and ideas from younger and frontline public service workers, and improve the working conditions of civil servants.

Speaking on an RTHK programme on Thursday morning, Lee Fong-chung said he did not think the change in leadership from Joshua Law to Nip would make "a huge difference".

Asked if civil servants should swear an oath pledging allegiance to the SAR and to vow to uphold the Basic Law, Lee said it was hard to say as a government report into the matter has not been released yet.

He said that if this is implemented, the Civil Service Bureau should speak to civil servant groups, but he agreed that civil servants should understand the Basic Law more.

Nip was relieved from his post as constitutional and mainland affairs secretary on Wednesday, days after an embarrassing saga involving apparent government confusion over whether Beijing's liaison office needs to abide by Article 22 of the Basic Law.

However, at a press conference on Wednesday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam denied that anyone was being sacked as a form of punishment.

Meanwhile, DAB lawmaker and executive councillor Horace Cheung defended the reshuffle on the same RTHK programme on Thursday, saying it was the right time to bring new members and new ideas into the government.

In response to criticism that officials who are unpopular have been allowed to keep their posts, Cheung echoed Lam's comment that this reshuffle was about "looking forward".

But Democratic Party lawmaker James To was sceptical, saying the government's popularity has been going down in recent years, and the public have no confidence in the government.

To said that while a reshuffle may give the public some hope, if things continue the way they are, then the changes will make no difference.