Disciplinary forces praise Lam’s policies
Chief Executive hopeful Carrie Lam Cheng Yuetngor’s election manifesto has been praised by the city’s disciplinary forces.
Lam met on Thursday with about 50 representatives of the city’s disciplinary forces, including immigration, customs, fire services, correctional services and the government flying service.
Lam was the first candidate to invite the disciplined forces for a meeting to brief them about her election manifesto. It has a section dedicated to improving the work conditions of civil servants.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Chairman of the Government Disciplined Services General Union Daniel Lau Yuk-fai acknowledged Lam’s respect for and support of the disciplinary forces.
Lau said Lam has put more effort into measures relating to civil servants in her election platform than the other CE candidates.
During the meeting, Lam detailed her proposals to review current operational procedures, to simplify processes and delegate powers — as the city’s 176,000 civil ser- vants are facing increasing pressures with rising public expectations.
The government will hire an extra 3,378 public servants — 64 percent of which are with the disciplinary forces, in the 2017-18 fiscal year.
Lam promised to review the cost-cutting program currently being imposed on various departments to reduce operating expenditure. To address concerns of civil servants about promotion prospects, relevant reviews in time-limited posts will be conducted if Lam is elected, according to her manifesto.
To help the city’s aging population and also to ease the concerns of public servants, Lam will also examine the retirement age for civil servants and disciplined services staff. Those who joined the government after 2000 will have the chance to extend retirement to the age of 65, rather than 60 as now. Meanwhile, for disciplined services staff, it will be postponed from 55 to 60.
A joint statement on Thursday by the city’s three major fire services unions expressed their welcome over Lam’s proposal to review the budgetcutting program and the extension of retirement age.
The unions hope Lam’s proposal can be implemented fully to enhance public servants’ morale and stability.
In the meantime, a survey by the Hong Kong Women Development Association released on Thursday showed almost half of the 1,096 respondents supported Lam in the election race — the highest among the three candidates.
The survey also revealed that retirement protection was the first on the list of issues the respondents expected to be dealt with, followed by community support initiatives.
Members of the association hold 22 votes in the Election Committee (EC) responsible for choosing the next CE.
The other two candidates in the CE race are ex-financial secretary John Tsang Chunwah and retired judge Woo Kwok-hing. The winning candidate will need to secure 601 votes from the 1,194-strong EC on March 26 and get appointed by the central government.