20 picked up in ICAC raids over highway contracts

Not to sound petulant but I thought that the reason Hong Kong pays its Civil Servants such extraordinary salaries is so that they will not accept bribes. I'm sure the government will conclude that this means they need to pay the already over paid, under worked troglodytes even more to ensure that they cannot be bribed. That then begs the question, "Why do we need the ICAC?"

Here is a thought. Fire the entire civil service. Reset the pay scale to 1/2 of the current level. Abolish the over the top retirement and separate medical program (Civil servants even have their own hospital) Draw up a set of professional ethics that every civil servant must adhere to and have them sign it. If they violate it they go to jail. Make them use the health system they foist upon the population. Indeed, that is a good policy for any state that has a socialized medical scheme. The government officials should have to use it to the exclusion of any other. Anyone who wants their job back can then have it at the lower pay and benefits level.

I see that civil servant in the back over there yelling "But that violates the basic law! The government can't give any civil servant less money than they made in 1997!" I've got news for you friend, the basic law is meaningless. The government does more or less whatever Beijing wants. Besides the IRD violates the basic law when it assumes that all expatriots are tax cheats and makes them pay their taxes a year in advance yet the basic law says we are innocent until at least charged with a crime. By working on the presumption of guilt the IRD violates the basic law. The same is true when the police conduct mass breathalizer test on motorist, even if they catch a few drunks the cost is a massive reduction in personal freedom. You don't mind that. The labor department discriminates against Indonesian minorities by allowing employers to pay Indonesian maids less than those from the Philippines that is racial discrimination. The list of the ways that Hong Kong civil servants violate the basic law in ways great and small everyday is quite long. Therefore, sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. Fire them all.

If I am going to live in a fascist society then I want the governmental officials to be subject to the oppressive laws just as I am subject to them. It limits the brutality the state is willing to engage in if Joseph Yam or York Chow or Albert Au are subject to those laws.

It also turns a fascist state into one that simply has some rather draconian laws. Severe penalties can be a cultural norm. Having leaders who are above the law is not, it is evil. Paying civil servants 4 times the going rate for the same job in the private sector means that the state gets greedy civil servants who are more concerned with keeping their jobs than serving a civil society. That may not be evil but it is certainly not smart either. I also think that the evidense shows it does not make them less likely to take bribes.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who will accept a draconian state but not a fascist one