Honesty is a fundamental and critical qualification for a government official, whose conduct represents the whole government. |
Dishonesty of government officials undoubtedly ruins the reliability of the government, which leads to a rating downgrade by citizens. |
Without adequate trust and support from citizens, it is unlikely for the smooth execution of government policies. |
Recently, a series of dishonesty scandals from government officials greatly aggravate the whole society and leads to the opposition against Hong Kong government. |
Consequently, not only the image of the government has suffered from a tremendous impact, but also the efficiency of implementation of policies has lowered down, which discourages the improvement of social welfare, productivity, etc. |
The future development of Hong Kong to remain an international financial center in Asia or even the world relies on the overall unity in the society. Honesty of government officials can minimize corruption, collusion and abuse of power, which is a must for continuous enhancement of economics. |
Dishonesty of the government discourages foreign investors as well, since an honest government is also a vital element for a competitive investment destination. It can help protect the private ownership of investors. |
Therefore, the importance of a satisfying record of honesty for a government official cannot be ignored. In developed countries like United States, a government official with dishonest conduct can be sued and forced to resign. |
Fortunately, in the past years, ICAC in Hong Kong has played a key role in supervision over honesty of government officials. The great deterrence of supervisory mechanism is the reason why Hong Kong has won a great success in the past decades. |
The internal and external supervision over honesty of government officials ensures the fairness competition in the financial market of Hong Kong and improves the overall welfare of the society in the long run. |