Hongfu Garden Fire | Ye Liu: Individual public servants' dereliction of duty should not affect overall salary adjustments

The survey on civil servants’ pay trends is expected to produce results this month. The independent committee investigating the fire at Hong Fu Court has revealed multiple failures and derelictions of duty across different departments, and some voices say that pay rises for civil servants could trigger backlash.

Executive Council convenor Regina Ip Suk-yee said on a cable news program that she understands many residents are dissatisfied with the investigation into civil servants’ performance related to this Hong Fu Court case, but it should not be that the performance of a portion of civil servants may be poor or they may have committed dereliction of duty—thereby affecting all civil servants. As of now, based on the pay trend mechanism, this is considered more reasonable.

The Hearing Is Nearing Its End — No Need to See a Mid-term Report

Regarding the engineering and consultancy companies involved being absent from the independent committee, Regina Ip said that as the people concerned are under criminal investigation, it is inconvenient to grant the independent committee the power to summon them for a public inquiry. The hearing should be nearing its end. After the government completes the necessary investigations, prepares a report, and then publishes the results, there does not appear to be any need for a mid-term report.

As for how the Middle East situation has led to higher oil and electricity prices, Regina Ip said that because some countries provide support, Hong Kong’s fuel supply is not an issue. The government has not yet proposed measures to reduce demand. She said she is concerned about the impact of the situation on inflation, and hopes the government will conduct some macroeconomic assessments to study which areas genuinely face setbacks among small and medium-sized enterprises.

Basketball Betting Suspension Is Reasonable — Worried About Insider Match-fixing

As for the government’s recent suspension of basketball betting, there are reports saying it is related to geopolitical issues. Regina Ip believes the suspension of basketball betting is reasonable, saying that the predicted market developments are worth paying attention to. Both major companies are from the United States. In particular since the current Trump administration took office, there has been an increasing amount of betting tied to geopolitical developments, and there are worries that even basketball games could involve insider information.