Club Lunch: Has Hong Kong Become Ungovernable?
Speaker: Rachel Cartland
Author & Former Senior Civil Servant
TUESDAY, MAY 13, 2014
12:45pm – Lunch
1:15PM – ADDRESS
1st FLOOR
Topic: Has Hong Kong Become Ungovernable?
This is a question on the lips and minds of many, and there is plenty of disquieting evidence to point to. Our famously “can do” city state seems to have lost its mojo and the legislature is paralysed but there is abundant energy for the rowdy demonstrations that have become a weekly feature of our streets and our citizens seem to be more or less permanently discontented. Rachel Cartland’s recently published memoir Paper Tigress deals mainly with her life as an Administrative Officer in the Hong Kong Government in the period 1972 to 2006. From the perspective of what she saw during her career and what she has observed subsequently, Ms. Cartland will add some fresh thoughts to this vital debate.
After graduating from Oxford University, Ms. Cartland joined the Administrative Grade of the Hong Kong Civil Service. During her more than thirty years with the Government she served in a variety of senior posts and has wide experience of policy formulation and the workings of the civil service, as well as a good understanding of all levels of Hong Kong society. When Deputy Secretary for Recreation and Culture, she oversaw the legislative and regulatory framework for the introduction of cable and satellite TV and the setting up of the Arts Development Council, among other things. As Assistant Director of Social Welfare (Social Security) she had responsibility for an annual budget of HK$25 billion and 2000 staff. The caseload of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme encompasses almost 300,000 of Hong Kong’s most vulnerable households. Currently, Ms. Cartland is a regular co-host on Backchat, the flagship news discussion programme on RTHK’s Radio 3. While she contributes articles on current topics to the Newsletter of the Hong Kong Society in London Paper Tigress is her first foray into book length writing.
