Periscope
Elite corps' power drops
Yet, at present, about 40 per cent of the political appointees are former administrative officers.
"They belonged to the same club. That facilities policy formation," Professor Burns said.
He added that even if the recent proposal by the government to add an extra layer of deputy ministers to assist the principal officials was carried out, the impact on the administrative officers' significance in the government would still be cosmetic, unless those officials and their deputies got public mandate and support.
Meanwhile, Raymond Young Lap-mun, who joined the government as an administrative officer in 1982 and is now an official of the directorate grade, said the ministerial accountability system did not undermine the career prospects of administrative officers because all administrative officer posts were intact.
Though the administrative officers cannot be promoted to head the policy bureaus, the prospect is always there, Mr Young said, citing that some administrative officers had left the civil service and become ministers.
"In organisation structure, we have one more box to report to. That's the difference," said Mr Young, now the director of Celebrations Preparatory Office in charge of the activities for the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's reunion with mainland China.
Growing public pressure
Despite the fact that administrative officers have to face many conflicts in their work, the veteran officer said it was part of their job to resolve conflicts. "Administration is the art of compromise," Mr Young said, adding that they had to balance the interests to come up with the best solution.
"We have to take political consideration, human resources consideration and other policy consideration like what the people would accept, what the press would say, how we approach to the Legco," he said.
Even though they are generalists, they are supported by many other officers who are specialised in different fields, he said.
"We have exposure to more things than the most professional people have," Mr Young said.
