Sun Deji: Balancing the parties has slowed down development. The public demanded that the government “will never do enough”

The former Director of the Audit Commission, Sun Deji, retired from the government at the beginning of this year as the first “airborne” to lead the auditing business. He recalled that the biggest experience in the six and a half years was that the society had higher requirements for government accountability and transparency in recent years. Reflecting Hong Kong’s enlightenment and progress, it is straightforward to say that government departments and principal officials, while striving for fairness, openness and fairness, must meet the requirements of the public and “will never do enough”. He also pointed out that from the perspective of business and accountants, it is precisely because the government needs to balance multiple voices, so that development has been slowed down in recent years.

Sun Deji’s most explosive audit report was published in 2013. In 2013, a number of remunerations and declarations of violations were issued by the ICAC’s Social Security Office, which in turn evolved to establish a personal attack on former ICAC Commissioner Tang Xianming. Sun Deji described that at the beginning, he reacted to the outside world and felt “very peculiar” because the fees for the entire ICAC account were negligible.

Supporting “Tomorrow’s Day”

However, looking back now, he believes that the incident highlights some of the findings of the Audit Commission that are particularly concerned by Members, the public and the media. “This is a reflection of the social mentality. I am afraid to talk about the speculations in the incident, but it may not be completely negative. Members Sometimes it is different from our (Audit)’s point of view, or more than I am.” He agrees that when the audit report is submitted to the Accounts Committee, if members find problems to trace, it will help improve the government’s accountability and transparency.

Sun Deji does not say that the demands of the Hong Kong community for government departments and officials have been rising. The government may not be able to keep up with it. “There are many governments that need to keep secrets. Some of the tight processes are difficult to disclose or pre-emptive.” I feel that the Government is sloppy when it comes to the audit report. “They want to see how much they can follow up and how much accountability is. In terms of accountability and degree, government disclosure may not be enough.”

In recent years, the public has been dissatisfied with the use of public funds in large-scale infrastructure projects. The Hong Kong section of the High Speed ​​Rail, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge and the recent “Lantau Island” vision have all been criticized as the Great White Elephant Project. Sun Deji stated that because Hong Kong is an open society and has different opinions, it is increasingly difficult for the government to integrate the opinions of all parties. “A small number of voices are louder than mainstream opinions. The government should evaluate these sounds to be true and reasonable. Unreasonable? In the end, it is beneficial to the development of the whole project and Hong Kong. Is it just some noise?”

He used Singapore as an example. In the past 10 years, the reclamation of the sea and the rapid progress of the land have been very rapid. “Singapore has a lot of noise. It may be because eight adults have already lived in the building. Hong Kong people will be less envious and more people will be jealous.” I am very supportive of the development of “Lantau Island tomorrow”. I admit that where there is a small number of people in the local area, once the lack of land is “there is no way to do it,” the Central Government will promote the planning of the Greater Bay Area of ​​Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao, and coordinate the development of several cities in southern China. Hong Kong must have new land to cope with the flow of people and logistics.

It is difficult to estimate the cost.

The Land Supply Task Force report proposes that “creating capacity and infrastructure first” is one of the development principles. Some people have criticized this policy of deviating from the “demand-led” approach of the Hong Kong Government in building infrastructure in the past. Mr Tsang pointed out that the Audit Commission’s report on the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal also dealt with this problem. “We all know that the development of Kowloon East is imperative. However, the cruise terminal has taken the lead and has been working for several years. The Secretary should wait for the development of Kowloon East. And the other is to use the Kai Tak runway for other purposes first?” He said that from an auditing perspective, it will only consider the Government’s plans after the completion of the infrastructure, as well as the actual and expected usage. It does not consider that the concept of “creating capacity” is not enough. The Audit Commission has always agreed that Hong Kong needs new thinking.

Sun Deji continued that the size of “Lantau tomorrow” is multiplied relative to the cruise terminal. Even if the government estimates the cost internally, it is difficult to make a mistake in the process. “There is a point that can be assured that although the Hong Kong people are reluctant to resist, the mainland compatriots The amount of people entering and leaving Hong Kong, as well as the number of people coming to Hong Kong to start a business, will increase in the long run. If you do it, you will achieve (expected) usage in the future. As for how to improve efficiency, Sun Deji bluntly looks at officials’ political skills. “There are a lot of tricks, you can use the audit.” He stressed that the government has a committee, guild and other consulting structures, it is impossible to ignore public opinion. “At least you should appear to listen to the public opinion, if you know the way You should be a limp, and you must have the courage to continue after listening to (public opinion).”