It is a matter of course for civil servants to uphold the Basic Law and swear allegiance to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China by taking a legally binding oath and/or signing a written statement to the same effect. However, those are not all that is necessary and the SAR government needs to make sure all civil servants understand the Basic Law of the HKSAR as well as the Constitution of the PRC, by devising a standard training/orientation program that all public servants are required to take as soon as possible. And it should be a permanent feature of personnel management at all levels of the SAR government to ensure that all civil servants are well aware of and fully respect Hong Kong’s constitutional order, truly uphold the Constitution and the Basic Law, with unshakable allegiance to the HKSAR.

All systems and policies in Hong Kong, including the high degree of autonomy, are effective because of authorization by the Constitution through the Basic Law. The Constitution and Basic Law provide solid constitutional ground and jurisprudential basis for the “one country, two systems” principle, “the people of Hong Kong administering Hong Kong” and a high degree of autonomy. Meanwhile, all civil servants on public payroll are operatives responsible for the faithful exercise of “one country, two systems” in the special administrative region. If they are not up to patriotic standard, the faithful exercise of “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong will be in question or even jeopardy.

Taking an oath or signing a declaration is only a formality; what really matters is that civil servants should fully understand and faithfully maintain the constitutional order of Hong Kong. This will ensure the smooth and faithful implementation of “one country, two systems” in the long run

To this end, the SAR government announced at the beginning of the year that all civil servants joining on or after July 1 must sign a declaration to uphold the Basic Law and swear allegiance to the HKSAR. It is also decided that all incumbent 180,000 civil servants will need to take an oath and/or sign the same declaration. This is the necessary step to enforce the concept of patriots governing Hong Kong. Patrick Nip Tak-kuen, secretary for the civil service, emphasizes the indispensability of oath taking and swearing allegiance to the HKSAR. He made it clear that applications for promotion, transfer and delayed retirement by civil servants will not be granted without oath taking or a signed written statement to the same effect, and those who refuse to take the standard oath and/or sign the written statement will be let go. He is confident the great majority if not all civil servants will faithfully fulfill these two requirements.

Taking an oath or signing a declaration is only a formality; what really matters is that civil servants should fully understand and faithfully maintain the constitutional order of Hong Kong. This will ensure the smooth and faithful implementation of “one country, two systems” in the long run. To this end, the SAR government needs to, as quickly as possible, launch a standard and regular training/orientation program to make all civil servants learn and understand the Constitution and the Basic Law by heart.

Since 2008, Basic Law knowledge test has become one of the requirements for civil service applicants. In addition, since 2016, all new recruits are required to take Basic Law proficiency courses within three years on the job. Anyone who is promoted to management position is now required to receive more in-depth training to elevate their understanding of the Basic Law. Since 2017 some 8,900 civil servants on average have enrolled in Basic Law training programs every year and up to 12,000 in 2019 alone. Furthermore, the Civil Service Training Advisory Board, currently chaired by Victor Fung Kwok-king, was established on Oct 25 last year in a bid to enhance training programs for civil service and advise on long-term development strategy.

Evidently, regular training to enhance Basic Law proficiency and knowledge of the country among civil servants in Hong Kong has begun for some years now and is expanded gradually. For example, the number of civil servants required to participate in courses on mainland affairs has been expanded from those rated 34th-44th point range on the master pay scale to the 28th-33rd point range since the second half of 2018; while some 240 civil servants enrolled in the said courses last year. Nevertheless, existing training programs are not quite up to the expectations of the central government in terms of patriots governing Hong Kong. That is because such courses are not available to all civil servants yet on the one hand and those courses are not made to measure for civil servants at different levels of authority or nature of their responsibilities. 

As soon as the practice of oath taking and/or written statement signing by all civil servants is institutionalized, the SAR government should proceed with designing and executing rank- and job-specific training programs for all civil servants to ensure and enhance their knowledge and understanding of the Constitution and Basic Law, so as to instill patriotism in every one of them.

The author is a current affairs commentator. 

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.