Tung Chee Hwa

Tung Chee Hwa (Traditional Chinese: 董建華; Simplified Chinese: 董建华; Cantonese {{IPA2|təʊŋ35 kɪn33 wɑ11}}; Jyutping: dung2 gin3 waa4; Mandarin Pinyin: Dǒng Jiànhuá) (born July 7, 1937, or the 29th day of the 5th month in the Chinese calendar in Shanghai, China) was the first elected Chief Executive (July 1,1997–March 12,2005) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). He took office on July 1, 1997 after the handover of Hong Kong from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China and was elected again to a second five-year term in 2002.

Second term

Tung Chee Hwa, with nominations from more than 700 members of the electoral college, was uncontested in the election for a second term. According to the Chief Executive Election Ordinance, nominations from at least 100 members of the 800-strong electoral college is required to be a candidate. Nevertheless, Tung could not erase from the public's mind the perception that he is a simpleton guiding a rudderless ship.

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Accountability system

In an attempt to resolve the difficulties in governance, Tung reformed the structure of government substantially starting from his second term in 2002. In a system popularly called the Principal Officials Accountability system, all principal officials, including the Chief Secretary, Financial Secretary, Secretary for Justice and head of government bureaux would no longer be politically neutral career civil servants. Instead, they would all be political appointees chosen by the Chief Executive. The system was portrayed as the key to solve previous administrative problems, notably the cooperation of high ranking civil servants with the Chief Executive. Under the new system, all heads of bureaux became members of the Executive Council, and came directly under the Chief Executive instead of the Chief Secretary or the Financial Secretary. The heads of the Liberal Party and Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, two pro-government parties in the Legislative Council, were also appointed into the Executive Council to form a "ruling alliance", a de facto coalition.

Related Topics:
2002 - Executive Council - Liberal Party - Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong - Legislative Council

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Crisis of governance in 2003

The first major move of Tung in his second term was to push for legislation to implement Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law in September 2002. However, the initiative drew a hostile response from the pro-democratic camp, lawyers, journalists and human rights organisations. This stoked public concerns that the freedoms they enjoyed would deteriorate. The sentiment, together with other factors such as the SARS epidemic in early 2003, when the government was criticised for its slow response, strained hospital services and the unexpected death toll, resulted in the largest mass demonstration since the establishment of HKSAR, with an estimated 350,000 - 500,000 people marching on 1 July 2003. Many demanded Tung to step down.

Related Topics:
Article 23 - Hong Kong Basic Law - SARS - 1 July - 2003

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In response to the protests, the leader of the Liberal Party, James Tien, resigned from the Executive Council on evening July 6, signifying the withdrawal of the party's support for the bill implementing Article 23. As a result, the government had to postpone and later withdraw the bill from the legislative agenda. In late August, Regina Ip, the then Secretary for Security who was responsible for implementing Article 23, resigned for personal reasons. Another Principal Official, Finance Secretary Antony Leung, who earlier suffered from a scandal over his purchase of a luxury vehicle weeks prior to his introduction of a car sales tax, which was dubbed as the Lexusgate scandal, resigned on the same day.

Related Topics:
James Tien - July 6 - August - Regina Ip - Antony Leung

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It was the most serious crisis of Tung's administration and some considered it a break-up of the short-lived ruling alliance. The events also boosted civil awareness among the public and the popularity of the pro-democratic camp. Tung's government subsequently encountered difficulties in implementing many of its policies due to irrational oppositions from the so-called pro-democratic camp.

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Subsequent developments

During the debate over Hong Kong's constitutional development, Tung was criticised as not reflecting effectively the views of the pro-democratic camp to push for 2007/08 universal suffrage to the PRC government. Although the primary target of popular opposition was the PRC government, Tung's lack of support for the pro-democratic camp resulted in his low approval ratings.

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Tung's cabinet suffered another blow in July 2004 when another Principal Official, the Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food, Dr. Yeoh Eng Kiong, resigned on July 7 to take political responsibility over the public outcry towards the government's handling of the SARS outbreak in 2003, after the release of the investigation report of LegCo over the issue.

Related Topics:
Yeoh Eng Kiong - July 7 - SARS

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In late-2004, the Tung administration was rocked by another embarrassment as the large planned sale of government owned real estate, The Link REIT, was cancelled at the last moment by a lawsuit by a single irresponsible tenant. This incident furthered popular perceptions that the Tung administration was inept. Given that Tung had already been chief executive for over seven years at this point, it was clear that Tung himself could not control anything other than his own bodily functions.

Related Topics:
2004 - The Link REIT

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With the subsequent improvement in the economy over 2004, unemployment fell and the long period of deflation ended. This resulted in a decrease in public discontent as the government's popularity improved, and popular support for the democratic movement dwindled with a protest in January attracting a mere few thousand protesters compared to an estimated 500,000 people in the July 1st protests of 2003 and 2004. However, the popularity of Tung himself remained low compared to his deputies including Donald Tsang and Henry Tang.

Related Topics:
Deflation - Donald Tsang - Henry Tang

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