Political situation
Written by: Zhou Haoyi
2021-02-16 07:00
Last update date: 2021-02-16 07:00
"Enlarged holiday" is the wish of many workers, but for the accountable officials, the holiday is not inevitable. Under the influence of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the number of accountable senior officials will have a significant decrease in the number of holidays in 2020 compared with previous years.
According to "Hong Kong 01" statistics, the total number of holidays for the Chief Executive and the Secretary-General in 2020 is only 39 days, a sharp drop of 85% from the 260 days in 2019.
A review of the government gazette revealed that Chief Executive Carrie Lam and most of the secretary-generals did not have any vacations in 2020. Among them, Chief Anti-epidemic, Director of the Food and Health Bureau, Chen Zhaoshi, is open throughout the year, but most senior officials are "workaholics" and are not the Secretary for Administrative Affairs. Director Zhang Jianzong is none other than, and he has not taken leave since he took office in 2017.
On the other hand, in 2019, even during the most intense anti-amendment demonstrations, accountable officials "enlarged holidays". Among them, the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Chen Fan, was named the "Holiday King" and enjoyed as many as 38 days of holidays until 2020. Successfully "defended the title" and "leaded" his peers during the 7th holiday.
When the Chief Executive's Office responded to the "Hong Kong 01" inquiry, it was stated that Carrie Lam did not leave Hong Kong for leave in 2017 and 18 afterwards, that is, he took office for more than 3 years and only took 15 days in total.
According to the government gazette, Carrie Lam has no vacations in 2019 and 2020, which is more "diligence" than the three previous chief executives.
Accountable officials enjoy 22 days of annual leave. Many people fail to claim.
According to the current arrangement, politically appointed officials enjoy 22 days of annual leave each year, and can accumulate up to 22 days of annual leave.
The reporter of "Hong Kong 01" checked the leave records of the Chief Executive, the three directors and the policy directors. According to the government gazette, the Chief Executive and the three directors did not have any leave in 2020; there are also 5 directors "open all year", including the main resistance The Director of the Food and Health Bureau Chen Zhaoshi, the Director of the Security Bureau Li Jiachao, and the newly appointed Director of the Civil Affairs Bureau Xu Yingwei, etc.
The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, Liu Yixiang, who left the post in April last year, took the most leave. He had 11.5 days of leave throughout the year.
Followed by the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Chen Fan, and Secretary for Development, Wong Wai Lun, who took 7 consecutive days off at the beginning of the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia in late January last year. If they are counted as current officials, they tied for the top spot.
It was followed by Qiu Tenghua, Director of the Bureau of Commerce and Economic Development, who took a leave of absence on the 6th in early January last year.
Looking at 2020, senior accountable officials have been "restrained" in applying for holidays. Since February, the epidemic has gradually become severe. There have been several waves of epidemics. In addition, there have been no official "long holidays" due to the "closed customs" for a long time.
Chen Fan's 19th "Holiday King"
However, in 2019, the Hong Kong government faced a political storm against the amendments, and the vacation situation was quite different.
In August 2019, some citizens called for the "three strikes" action, and anti-revision demonstrations were "blooming everywhere". Many directors were taking "long holidays". For example, the director of the Bureau of Education, Yang Runxiong, took a leave of 10 days from August 4th to 13th; Director of Food and Sanitation Chen Zhaoshi took a vacation from August 10th to 18th, and took a 9th vacation; Development Director Huang Weilun took two long vacations from July to August, on 16th and 8th.
In the whole year of 2019, Chen Fan took the most vacations, with a total of 38 days off. There are also vacations around the Lunar New Year, Buddha's Birthday and Christmas, and he is called the "Holiday King".
Next is Wong Wai Lun, Director of the Development Bureau, who takes 31 days of leave throughout the year.
What is interesting is that if only the current officials are counted, Chen Fan and Huang Weilun have become the top two officials with the most vacations for two consecutive years.
Chen Zhaoshi applied for the 22nd big holiday in 2019. Together with Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, the 27th of the year was off. He took 4 big holidays on Easter and Christmas and other days. I was afraid that the following year No holidays."
In 2019, the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Chen Fan, named the "Holiday King" and enjoyed up to 38 days of holidays.
(Hong Kong 01 drawing)
According to the "Code for Officials of the Political Appointment System", the deputy director will act as the deputy director when the director is absent.
According to regulations, whether the chief executive and officials leave Hong Kong on business or vacation, as long as they can return to Hong Kong to perform their official duties within a short period of time, they do not need to arrange for officials to act in their duties. Even if officials are on vacation in Hong Kong, they may not need to be announced. The number of official holidays listed in the gazette may not fully reflect the number of official holidays.
Lin Zheng has fewer holidays than the previous three chief executives
The reporter of "Hong Kong 01" asked the Chief Executive's Office and policy bureaux about the number of days off for accountable officials.
The Chief Executive’s Office replied that since Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor took office on July 1, 2017, he only took two short leave from Hong Kong in December 2017 and December 2018, one day and three days respectively; There will be no leave from Hong Kong for the whole year in 2019 and 2020.
During the three-and-a-half years, the chief executive will take a day or half a day off to handle personal affairs, totaling 15 days; in other words, the chief executive has only taken a total of 19 days of leave during his tenure so far, and has not used up the 22 days he should have every year. Days holiday.
Compared with former chief executives Tung Chee-hwa and Liang Zhenying, the current chief executive Carrie Lam has fewer holidays.
(Profile picture / Photo by Liang Pengwei)
Looking back at the vacation of the past three chief executives, Tung Chee-hwa had a total of 59.5 days of vacation during his eight years in office, an average of 7.4 days per year; Tsang Yinquan had a total of 89.5 days of vacation during his seven years in office, with an average of 12.8 days of vacation per year, while Liang Zhenying had a total of five years of vacation 67 On average 13.4 days per year.
In contrast, since Carrie Lam took office as chief executive in 2017, the total number of vacation days is only higher than the average annual vacation of the previous three chief executives. In terms of the number of vacation days, it can be said to be more "diligence" than the previous chief executives. .
Zhang Jianzong said that he would be excited when he had no holiday for more than 20 years
The Office of the Chief Secretary for Administration and the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau replied that the Chief Secretary for Administration Zhang Jianzong and the Director of the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau Zeng Guowei (who took office in April 2020) have not taken any leave since they took office in this term.
Zhang Jianzong, who has joined the government for nearly 50 years, can be described as a "workaholic". He was interviewed in 2017 and said that he had no holidays for nearly 20 years. "I am excited every time I go to work," but he said with a smile that he was a wrong example and not worth recommending. .
As for other policy bureaus, they are unwilling to disclose the actual number of official holidays. They only stated that under the current arrangement, politically appointed officials are entitled to 22 days of annual leave each year, and can accumulate up to 22 days of annual leave. During the term of office, all accumulated leave will be cancelled when they leave office.
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