45 years of anti-corruption work: winning the battles and the war
by Simon Peh Yun-lu, ICAC Commissioner

Best ally in the fight against corruption

“Our best ally is the good sense of the people of Hong Kong and their sincerity of their demand that the time for new standards has come.” So it was stated in the first ICAC Annual Report back in the 1970s. And the truth of this statement still holds after 45 years. Throughout the past four and a half decades, the community had stood by the ICAC firmly as the organisation rode out every storm.

And it is not an empty boast. Since 1992, the ICAC has been conducting an annual community-wide opinion survey to keep a close tap on the public attitude and perception over corruption. Findings over the years consistently showed that citizens exhibited high intolerance to corruption, willingness to report suspected corrupt behaviours, and fervent support for the anti-graft cause.

The freshly released ICAC Annual Survey, conducted in 2018 by an independent pollster through face-to-face household interviews, will shed more light.

There is no arguing that the ICAC had managed to obtain that real victory. Public attitude towards corruption had entirely changed since my forerunner made that insightful remarks in the 1974 Annual Report. Unlike 45 years ago when the ICAC first came into being, nowadays survey findings show that the vast majority or 98.4% of the community had not personally come across corruption in the past 12 months. Only one out of 100 indicated that they had encountered it. Where there were suspected corrupt dealings, the public was willing to report.

Not only are citizens willing to report, they are also more willing to reveal their identity and provide detailed information when reporting. When the ICAC was set up in 1974, two thirds of all reports received were anonymous. In 2018, over two thirds of the reports were non-anonymous. These changes are testimonies to the public’s contempt for corruption and their trust in the ICAC.

This year marks the ICAC’s 45th anniversary. Over four and a half decades ago, within four months of the decision to establish a new, independent organisation to combat corruption, the ICAC was brought into existence on February 15, 1974. The work was done speedily and smoothly by a determined government. But the battles against corruption could only be won with the whole-hearted support of the public at large. In its hard-fought war against corruption, Hong Kong had won many battles. By every battle won we engendered confidence and persevere at finding new ways to win the war. The public can rest assure that the ICAC will remain committed as ever in carrying out its anti-corruption duties independently and professionally, without fear or favour, in accordance with the law in the days to come.

Just as our latest TV commercial says: “Times change. The Mission Continues.”