At the beginning of this year, I was invited by the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) to share ICAC’s anti-graft strategies with over 400 students. It was encouraging to see the students earnestly discussing about the core values of integrity. They also expressed great interests about the work of the ICAC and some prominent cases in recent years. I told them about our overriding principle of handling all investigations impartially and without fear or favour, and assured that our officers would continue to carry out their duty of fighting corruption in a professional manner. It is not only our pledge to the students of HKIEd, but also our firm commitment to the Hong Kong community in the past 40 odd years.

The past 42 years indeed saw the concerted effort of the community and the ICAC in putting Hong Kong on the map, making it internationally acclaimed for its culture of probity. One of the major challenges we face now is to sustain and pass on this culture.

ICAC’s work widely recognised by the public

To understand this major challenge, let’s start by looking at some statistics. According to the 2015 ICAC Annual Survey, 97% of respondents supported the work of the ICAC, reflecting that our anti-graft efforts were widely recognised and supported by members of the public. The survey also found that the respondents were highly intolerant of corruption. With 0 representing total intolerance and 10 representing total tolerance, the mean score was 0.6, registering a drop of 0.4 percentage point when compared with that of the previous year. It was in fact the lowest score since the question was first raised in 2010. Of the respondents, 78.8% were willing to report corruption, a rise of 2.1% percentage points when compared to 76.7% in 2014. In addition, the survey showed that only 1.3% of the respondents indicated they had come across corruption in the past 12 months, 0.2 percentage point lower than the previous year. These statistics showed that the culture of probity is deeply rooted in our society and members of the public loathe corruption.

Passing on the value of integrity to future generations

However, the same survey also showed that the mean score of young respondents aged 15 to 24 in respect of tolerance of corruption was 1.0, which was obviously higher than the mean score of 0.5 for those respondents in the 25-64 age group. The percentage of those respondents aged 15 to 24 who were unwilling to report corruption was also higher than that of respondents in other age groups. These findings were of great concern to the ICAC.

Nowadays, young people see the world in their own ways. Many of them would take the initiative to voice their opinions through different channels. Hence in the past three years as ICAC Commissioner, I treasured each and every dialogue with young people. Apart from sharing with them the latest development of ICAC’s work, I also wish to listen to them, and to understand their thinking. Young people may not have come across corruption and the sufferings it could cause. To them, corruption is far more abstract and remote than other livelihood issues such as housing, education and employment. This is why the ICAC needs to seize every opportunity to promote the core value of probity to youngsters and ensure they pass the torch to future generations. Failing that, little by little, the result of our hard work in the past 42 years will be eroded.

To strengthen moral and integrity education work for young people, we will make good use of the new media and other innovative means to disseminate tailor made anti-graft messages to them. The passing on of a culture and innovation do not necessarily be conflicting demands. We are always inspired and driven by the creativity of young people. In addition to raising their awareness of the evils of corruption and nurturing an upright personality in them, we also need to help them appreciate that such core values as probity and integrity are the important underlying factors for Hong Kong’s success.

‘All for Integrity’ programme to be launched in 18 districts

To instil these positive values into people from different trades and all walks of life and to encourage the public to safeguard the culture of probity, the ICAC will further reach out to the community through a multi-year territory-wide preventive education programme entitled “All for Integrity”. An array of activities, including competitions, performances and exhibitions, will be staged in all 18 districts of Hong Kong. In addition, production of our signature television drama series – “ICAC Investigators 2016”, is in its final stage and will hit the television screen next month. We will continue to make optimal use of television and radio shows as well as new media to promote anti-graft messages to a wider public.

It has been ICAC’s firm belief that instilling positive values into young people at their early age will better prepare them to resist the temptation of corruption in future and help build a culture of probity in the society. Therefore one of our major initiatives in the “All for Integrity” programme will focus on preventive education for young people, including the establishment of a Youth Chapter under the ICAC Club, a voluntary group for promoting civic participation, to widely disseminate the messages of integrity, honesty, fairness, law-abiding and self-discipline to young people.

As for children and youngsters, the ICAC will continue to work on tailor-made moral education materials and activities, including a Gee-dor-dor cartoon activity package for kindergartens and primary students, integrity training for secondary school and tertiary students, the iTeen Leadership Programme for senior secondary students, the ICAC Ambassador Programme for tertiary students, and the youth engagement group “i-League”. These initiatives will help deepen young people’s understanding of the importance of personal integrity and law-abiding, hence providing a solid foundation before they enter the job market.

Strictly enforcing the law without fear or favour

In recent years, Hong Kong has consistently been rated as one of the cleanest places globally and in Asia. Early this year, Transparency International, an international watchdog of corruption, published the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2015. According to the CPI 2015, Hong Kong was ranked the 18th least corrupt place among 168 countries and territories and the second cleanest place in Asia, while its overall score rose slightly from 74 in 2014 to 75 in 2015. A report released by the US-based Heritage Foundation in early February ranked Hong Kong the world’s freest economy for the 22nd consecutive year, considering the city a place with a low level of corruption.

While several high-profile ICAC cases involving senior government officials and prominent figures in recent years might have influenced public perception of the corruption situation in Hong Kong and affected Hong Kong’s rankings in some international surveys, from another point of view, these cases demonstrated the effectiveness of our anti-corruption regime. We have a community that strongly defies corruption and a robust ICAC determined to fight graft impartially and without fear or favour, regardless of the background, status and position of the persons and organisations involved. Most importantly, such cases are only isolated ones and the civil service in Hong Kong remains very clean.

The saying “prevention is better than cure” may seem cliché, but it is the principle all along upheld by the ICAC. We will continue to promote corruption prevention work through system control and reviewing work procedures of public and private organisations, with a view to reducing the opportunities for corruption and malpractices. Year 2016 will see the launching of major corruption prevention initiatives such as the production of a sample code of conduct and a training package respectively for kindergartens and the retail industry, as well as corruption prevention guidelines on outsourcing of public medical services through the public-private partnership approach for the Department of Health and the Hospital Authority.

Looking forward

The ICAC will continue to fight corruption and promote integrity through our time-tested three-pronged strategy. We will also continue to brief the international community on the actual probity situation in Hong Kong and our latest anti-corruption initiatives in order to mitigate any misunderstanding arising from perceptions. Just this month I and other colleagues had called on law enforcement agencies in Singapore and Indonesia to update them on our anti-graft initiatives and share our views on international cooperation in the fight against corruption. The probity situation in Hong Kong and our anti-graft experience were held in high regard by both countries.

In this age of rapid changes, we understand that many people, in particular young people, may feel frustrated and confused. My advice is not to give up or lose heart. Whatever circumstances you find yourself in, hold fast to what is good and kind, adhere to positive values and uphold the core value of probity – an intangible asset of our society that cannot be measured in terms of figures. The ICAC and the public will continue to go hand-in-hand in passing this asset on, from generation to generation.