Civilized societies run smoothly and keep themselves in good shape by requiring every member to strictly abide by some kind of social contract, and the requirement of allegiance or loyalty of every member is essentially an integral part of any social contract, without which a social unit simply cannot function well and remain intact. Disloyalty of members would, more often than not, lead to the collapse of social units, including countries, governments, companies, families and marriage, as evidenced by history and statistics. It is safe to say that the allegiance of every member is a basic requirement of survival for all social units.

There is, therefore, nothing unusual in the HKSAR government’s demand that all civil servants in the region must pledge allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and swear to uphold the Basic Law.

The widely reported “Trojan horse incidents” earlier this year — during which some Hospital Authority staff members who were at odds with the government tried to sabotage the government’s efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, and a 25-year-old immigration staff member contributed to a rampant doxxing campaign against police officers, civil servants, judges, lawmakers and others by deliberately leaking their private data online — have made it all the more imperative for the SAR government to preempt similar “Trojan horse attacks” in the future by demanding loyalty from all public officeholders through a legally binding oath.

It is understood that those who refuse to pledge allegiance to the HKSAR and swear to uphold the Basic Law could be sacked or ordered to retire. Indeed, they should be automatically removed from the civil service immediately. This makes perfect sense and is justifiable because their continued service in the government is not in the public interest. Their refusal to pledge allegiance suggests they have a higher priority in their minds, which prevents them from committing themselves to upholding the political system underpinned by the Basic Law, which serves no purposes other than the public interest.

The requirement for public officeholders to pledge allegiance to the running political system and the governing establishment is a matter of course, rather than an option, both historically and presently all over the world. No argument whatsoever can justify any civil servant’s refusal to take the oath of allegiance, including personal political beliefs or persuasions.