DONALD TSANG'S SINKING POPULARITY

Out of a survey of 840 people:

11.8% were satisfied with the government's performance (this is a decrease pf 2.5% and the lowest since 2004, when Tung Chee-Hwa was Chief Executive)

36.7% were dissatisfied with the government's performance (this is an increase of 3.6% and this is the highest level since February, 2005)

John Tsang's Popularity Rating: 49.3 (this is a decrease of 2.7% and this is the lowest level since John Tsang became Financial Secretary in February, 2007)

Donald Tsang's Popularity Rating: 50.8 (this is 0.6% lower)

% Expressing Confidence in the "Government Accountability System": 41.4% (this is the lowest confidence level since July, 2003 at the height of the SARS outbreak)

55.3% of respondents could not name a favored political party.

According to Timothy Wong, Associate Director of the Asia-Pacific Studies Center at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, "Today's government officials are exhausted by LOBBYING WORK. The root of the problem is not the accountability system itself, BUT THE LACK OF MATURE PARTY POLITICS IN HONG KONG. There is not a real executive coalition in the legislature and it is inevitable for POLITICALLY APPOINTED officials to be busy 'putting out fires'.

Implications/Analysis/Comments/Remarks: Donald Tsang came to power on an unpopular platform. Democrats in Legco blocked his political reform package which was basically 'listen to whatever Beijing says' and what did Donald Tsang do in response? He stormed off to Beijing on a "duty visit", no doubt bad-mouthing Hong Kong, came back and announced that universal suffrage had been delayed. Shortly thereafter Tsang was instrumental in delaying universal suffrage for 5 more years, from 2012 until 2017. Then Tsang appeared to give Democrats an olive branch by saying that he was working on the financial crisis in the first half of 2009, but would reopen the democratic reform debate in the second half EVEN IF THE ECONOMY HAD NOT YET RECOVERED. What was the point of that? Nothing. Tsang just wants to give the impression to Beijing that he is doing whatever they want him to do. But the million-dollar question is: if the economy recovers in the third quarter of 2009 will he keep his promise and reopen the constitutional reform debate? Most likely not. Then, there's cabinet structure arguments (i.e. the government already has secretaries and undersecretaries, so why did they still appoint political assistants?) and the fact that some Hongkongers were left in the middle of a raging civil war in Thailand. Finally, we can't forget the 'Mainland pride' argument in which Donald Tsang is essentially forcing people to believe that China isn't affected by this financial crisis which experts agree is the worst since the Great Depression in 1929. Here's another question: if Donald Tsang loves the mainland so much, why did he not say anything until after Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997? As far as John Tsang is concerned, he has to follow orders and Legco is basically dysfunctional with seemingly endless squabbles between the Democrats and DAB and of course Donald Tsang's idealistic view is that Legco should be filled with DAB people.