Chief Executive Donald Tsang addresses the Legislative Council yesterday. He assured legislators the selection of undersecretaries and political assistants had been impartial. China Daily

The Legislative Council (LegCo) yesterday voted down a motion to order, with its privileged power, the director of the Chief Executive's Office to surrender materials related to the salary and fringe benefits of undersecretaries and political assistants.

The Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance vests in the law-making body the power to conduct investigations into any matter and demand government officials to explain public affairs in a hearing.

The motion was tabled by legislator Lee Wing-tat after queries from society over the appointments of the officials and their salary and fringe benefits surfaced.

In an unprecedent move, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen addressed the LegCo before the start of the debate.

He reiterated that the political appointment system has its own set of rules and internal check-and-balance to govern the appointment process.

He appealed to legislators and members of the public to put an end to the controversy, and shift the focus onto exigent livelihood issues, such as bird flu, medical reform, rising oil prices and inflation.

All principal officials, except Secretary for Home Affairs Tsang Tak-shing, were present in the meeting.

"I hope to allay public misunderstanding arisen from the expansion of the accountability system," Tsang said.

An appointment committee, chaired by Tsang and comprised of the three secretaries and directors of bureaus, was responsible for the appointment process.

Tsang indicated that he found the controversy regretful but believed it was unavoidable.

He reiterated that the recruitment process was in accordance with the principle of collective decision and meritocracy, though it was different from the recruitment of civil servants.

Tsang said the value of the new appointees is not something that can be measured by the remuneration of civil servants.

He added the backgrounds of individual appointees were factored in when calculating their salaries.

"There is no hurry to judge their capability at the moment," he said.

"We should wait until they assume posts," he added, urging the public to be lenient towards the new political aides.

In the meantime, he said it is unfair to allege that people who have worked with or are acquaintances of director of the Chief Executive's Office Norman Chan are his proteges.

"We ought to maintain the core values of Hong Kong, and to listen to and think about different voices," Tsang said.

"We have revealed all that we could have disclosed. I wish to put an end to the excessive dispute. We have argued too much," he remarked.

(HK Edition 06/27/2008 page1)