IN A FEW DAYS, Hong Kong will enter its fourth year as a Special Administrative Region under Chinese sovereignty. We won't be seeing as much festivity as in the past two years, when prominent leaders descended from Beijing for the anniversary. There will be no shortage of drama, nonetheless.
In the run-up to the handover anniversary, the people of Hong Kong have seen a few demonstrations. Public doctors are organising themselves against a new two-tier grade structure. Even the formerly protest-shy Liberal Party is mobilising homeowners, who suffered from the slip in the property market. On June 10, more than 6,000 teachers publicly showed their opposition over the language benchmarking proposal. About three months ago, 2,500 social workers rallied against the Government's new funding scheme.
A year ago, 632 barristers and solicitors marched silently in dark suits, protesting the Government's decision to seek a re-interpretation of two articles of the Basic Law by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, which essentially overturned the Court of Final Appeal's judgment in the right of abode case.
Barristers, solicitors, social workers, teachers, public doctors, homeowners - these are not our typical street protesters. One must ask why these people have resorted to demonstrations. The answer has to be this - something is wrong with our Government.
Not everyone agrees. Listen to some of Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's closest advisers in the Executive Council. Leung Chun-ying reportedly said that the fact that people were venting anger against particular policies in the streets did not mean that the Government's reputation was suffering. Chung Shui-ming argued that it was the financial turmoil that was pushing the people to protest. Tam Yiu-chung, the only Exco member who also sits in the Legislative Council, said most of the issues under protest were left over from before the handover.
If this is the advice our Chief Executive heeds to understand the mood of our society, it is no surprise that his popularity has plummeted to the point where less than one-fifth of Hong Kong people want him for a second term.
So what's wrong with the Government? Some columnists have said that Mr Tung's administration has an addiction to meddling with the property market. Judging from its track record, I would say Mr Tung's administration has an addiction to meddling, period.