Wanton politicization

Lam Fan-keung offered his resignation as member of the Executive Council (ExCo) on Thursday even though the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) cleared his name.

Director of Public Prosecutions Kevin Zervos, who headed the ICAC team handling the complaint against Lam, said that the anti-graft watchdog decided not to press charges against Lam because investigations did not find enough evidence to support accusations against him. Lam issued a statement thanking the ICAC for clearing his name and expressing regret over unwarranted public persecution by certain media entities against him and media harassment of his family members in the last few months.

Lam’s decision to quit ExCo was out of concern for the SAR government’s image as well as public interest, but it also highlighted the dangerous trend of politicizing everything, which is poisoning the social environment and discouraging capable people eager to contribute to public welfare as government officials.

The fact is many people have fallen victim to unwarranted accusations, verbal abuse and malicious attacks for any or no reason since they became principal officials. Even their families are harassed every now and then because of their official status. Such a vicious attitude toward senior officials has scared many people out of their desire to become public servants. If the trend continues to grow, members of the public will suffer as well.

Some people with ulterior motives have been targeting senior government officials in recent years with indiscriminate smear campaigns or corruption complaints without solid evidence. Sometimes they demand an official’s resignation for any or no reason but hearsay and use the press to blow the issue out of proportion. Such acts are apparently politically motivated and meant to undermine the lawful administration of the SAR government.

Hong Kong has never had too many talents and will find it harder to replenish government personnel if hostile forces are allowed to knock principal officials down whenever they want through a political witchhunt. It will seriously jeopardize the implementation of “Hong Kong People Governing Hong Kong” with dire consequences.

This is an excerpted translation of a Wen Wei Po editorial published on Aug 2.