Effective Training
Title
Author(s)
A comparative study of the civil service of Hong Kong and Singapore
Hin, Ada; 禤雅儀
Citation
Issue Date
URL
Rights
2004
http://hdl.handle.net/10722/30789
Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License
I. Introduction
In recent decades, many Asian countries have been going through remarkable changes and developments, both in terms of economic, technological and political aspects.
The Civil Service, whose contributions to the economy and
society are relatively overlooked by most people when compared to the private sector, has actually been playing a significant or even a leading role in facilitating these developments.
The beginning of the recent developments in most civil service systems in Asia can be traced back to the period after the Second World War, when there was a major reshuffle of power relationships among the Asian countries. The Second
World War upset the original balance of power among the world’s major nations, and this in turn, changed the geographical relationships in many parts of Asia.
With the end of the war and the setting up of the United Nations, the major western powers had to give up their former colonies or spheres of interests. As a result, most of their former colonies in Africa and Asia gradually gained their independence after the war. A period of post-independence political unrest in these countries thus followed and in order to cope with the need of forming a
8
new government after the leaving of their colonial masters, changes and transformation of the civil service systems became inevitable.
Moreover, with the handover of political power from the hands of the colonial powers to the indigenous people, the objectives of the governments changed.
Previously, the colonial governments implemented policies and rules to maintain its presence in their colonies and to serve the interests of the colonial masters, without paying much attention to the
Author(s)
A comparative study of the civil service of Hong Kong and Singapore
Hin, Ada; 禤雅儀
Citation
Issue Date
URL
Rights
2004
http://hdl.handle.net/10722/30789
Creative Commons: Attribution 3.0 Hong Kong License
I. Introduction
In recent decades, many Asian countries have been going through remarkable changes and developments, both in terms of economic, technological and political aspects.
The Civil Service, whose contributions to the economy and
society are relatively overlooked by most people when compared to the private sector, has actually been playing a significant or even a leading role in facilitating these developments.
The beginning of the recent developments in most civil service systems in Asia can be traced back to the period after the Second World War, when there was a major reshuffle of power relationships among the Asian countries. The Second
World War upset the original balance of power among the world’s major nations, and this in turn, changed the geographical relationships in many parts of Asia.
With the end of the war and the setting up of the United Nations, the major western powers had to give up their former colonies or spheres of interests. As a result, most of their former colonies in Africa and Asia gradually gained their independence after the war. A period of post-independence political unrest in these countries thus followed and in order to cope with the need of forming a
8
new government after the leaving of their colonial masters, changes and transformation of the civil service systems became inevitable.
Moreover, with the handover of political power from the hands of the colonial powers to the indigenous people, the objectives of the governments changed.
Previously, the colonial governments implemented policies and rules to maintain its presence in their colonies and to serve the interests of the colonial masters, without paying much attention to the