Civil Service Secretary Patrick Nip Tak-kuen said on Tuesday that the career prospects of those civil servants who refuse to swear allegiance to the HKSAR would be hindered at the very least for sure, with little or no prospect of being promoted. The secretary has apparently understated the consequence, though he also did not rule out sacking civil servants who refuse to sign the oath of allegiance. 

Allegiance to the governing establishment is a basic requirement for all public officeholders in most — if not all — countries in the world, either in the past or in modern society. The reasons for such a requirement are self-evident. 

For example, the allegiance requirement in official oaths has been used as a means to command loyalty and exclude dissenting voices for over three hundred years in England. This requirement of allegiance is still enforced in the modern-day United Kingdom. Sinn Fein Members of Parliament from Northern Ireland never take up their seats in the House of Commons because they refuse to swear the oath of allegiance as a matter of principle. 

This tradition of demanding loyalty from public officeholders has been transplanted into and maintained in Hong Kong: Official promissory oaths including oaths of allegiance had been part and parcel of the British Hong Kong administration for over a century, and are still prescribed in the Oaths and Declarations Ordinance. 

In line with this tradition and universal norm, Article 104 of the Basic Law specifically provides that when assuming office, the chief executive, principal officials, members of the Executive Council and of the Legislative Council, judges of the courts at all levels and other members of the judiciary in the HKSAR must swear to uphold the Basic Law and swear allegiance to the HKSAR.

This requirement also applies to any others who aspire to stand for election or take up the public offices specified in Article 104, as confirmed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress in its interpretation of this article on Nov 7, 2016

Anyone who argues against or challenges this requirement will do so in vain. In a landmark ruling handed down on Nov 15, 2016, the High Court of the HKSAR disqualified two lawmakers-elect for taking their oath of office in a manner that manifests the absence of genuine allegiance to the HKSAR. Another four lawmakers-elect were unseated for the same reason by the High Court on July 14, 2017.

In a nutshell, taking of the oath is not ceremonial but a legal pledge made by public officers to the HKSAR and is legally binding. An oath taker who makes a false oath, or who engages in conduct in breach of the oath he/she has taken, shall bear legal responsibility.