For the first time since the historic protest on 1 July, Premier Wen Jiabao has spoken of democracy. In his words, the rights and freedoms of Hong Kong people guaranteed under the Basic Law would be protected through "gradual democratisation". It was also for the first time that a Central Government leader has attached the same importance to democracy and economic development.

But the Chief Executive Mr. Tung and the Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Mr. Stephen Lam have chosen to play deaf to the calls for democratisation. Mr. Lam has responded to the call for an early constitutional review with stonewalling. In response to my question at a Legislative session earlier this month, he said a clear time timetable for public consultation on political reform would be unveiled this year. He refused to commit whether the Chief Executive can be directly elected in 2007 will be included in the coming constitutional review. Neither did Lam commit himself to supporting a referendum to see what the public wants. Time and again, we were let down by the Secretary. And every time when he was asked the question of constitutional review, he responded by saying that the Constitutional Bureau is conducting an internal review. Research in the Bureau had gone on for ages, but the government has delivered nothing on the constitutional front in the more than four months since the mass demonstration.

The Chief Executive is equally evasive. Four months after the historic protest, he has given no indication of a change of stance on the all-important issue of democratisation. In the Legco question and answer session held last week, despite his pledge to listen to the people, he did not commit himself to democratic development. This impervious disregard of public criticism will be hard to convince people that the administration is sincere in listening to the people. And this will only confirm the fact that this is just more of the same old Tung.

If our Premier Wen Jiabao has attached the same importance to democratisation and economic development, Chief Executive Mr. Tung has not. Mr Tung had earlier asserted that Hong Kong needed to focus on economic recovery rather than political development. Last week, he conceded dissatisfaction with the government would remain if problems such as negative equity and falling wages were not resolved. He might have thought that the feel-good sentiment brought about by economic recovery would overwhelm the call for democratisation. But he is wrong. The public knew too well that the lack of democratisation is at the heart of many problems.

The lack of legitimacy has badly affected the operation of the administration. As noted by critics, the government has been withdrawing some of its proposed policies out of political expediency in the wake of the July 1 uproar, giving the impression the Tung administration is willing to run for cover at the slightest whiff of dissent. If the government opts out of any policy which may attract opposition, the functioning of the government will be paralysed. The lack of legitimacy has made even reasonable proposals less tenable, let alone the gigantic tasks that the administration is dealing with.

The only way out for the battered administration is for Mr Tung to run an accountable, responsive, and open government. And the only means to confer legitimacy badly-needed by the government is to conduct a constitutional review immediately to correct major systemic flaws and biases. It would also give the government a regularised mechanism to gauge public views as to what specific changes need to be taken.

The administration has been adhering strictly to the principle that Hong Kong should take a gradual approach to democratisation in line with the Basic Law. The Basic Law restricts the pace of democratisation for the first 10 years after the handover - and no more. Have we not taken a gradual approach to democratisation? It is now almost 20 years since the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed, after which democratic reforms were gradually introduced. The call for an early political review started as early as in the 1990's. Recent developments have proven that Hong Kong people give democracy a high priority. The most natural course of action will be to have the chief executive directly elected by 2007, and the whole Legislative Council to be directly elected by 2008. And starting constitutional reforms now is imperative.

With public patience wearing thin, people are in no mood to take the issue of democratisation lying down. And Mr. Stephen Lam has the advantage of having classic examples to look to-ministers who could not deliver what was expected of them were forced to step down. And for the accountability system to be sustainable, Mr. Lam will have to take these examples seriously to heart.

YEUNG SUM

Chairman of the Democratic Party and a directly elected Legislative

Councillor

[RTHK- Letter to Hong Kong, October 19, 2003]