Common Nonsense : The Poor Servant and the Poor Master she doesn't Serve

【明報專訊】THAT a humble and diligent servant has to serve two masters is not just a farce but a curse. We are so cursed, though we weren't fully aware of it until now. Don't get me wrong, I'm not that servant but nevertheless the curse strangles the innocents like me too. The cursed servant in question is the public servant whom the eighteen District Councils of HKSAR respectively appointed as the Secretary to the Council under the District Council Ordinance. He or she (alas, hereafter "she" and the female derivatives mean both he and she, him and her, his and her indeed!) usually is a Senior Executive Officer from the Home Affairs Department well versed in public administration and equally well experienced in the perplexing web of bureaucratic interests. The Secretary to the District Council serves the Council by providing it the administrative and secretarial support for the discharge of its duty under the District Council Ordinance, namely, advising the government on matters affecting the well-being of the people in the District. Not really an onerous and burdensome task for the Secretary in the better times. Now, of course, is not one of those times.