Word: tung
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...consistent message proved just as elusive. Inconsistency has been the norm ever since 500,000 people took to Hong Kong's streets on July 1, 2003 to protest everything from a controversial security bill to the mishandling of the SARS crisis to Tsang's unpopular predecessor, Tung Chee-hwa. It may have started out as a pro-democracy march, but democracy is not necessarily foremost on the minds of the marchers. If you missed the "One Person, One Vote!" placards carried by democracy advocates (helpfully printed in Sunday's edition of Hong Kong's Apple Daily newspaper), it would have...
...surprised to hear me say this, but I have been pleasantly surprised at how the past decade has unfolded. Overall, China has tried to abide by the Basic Law, Hong Kong's mini-constitution, and despite a turbulent seven years under the inept leadership of former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, the territory is prospering. That is not to say there aren't concerns. Hong Kong suffers greatly from a lack of full democracy. The press censors itself to avoid angering the powers that be. (For refusing to pull its punches, Apple Daily publishes under a boycott by pro-Beijing...
...what sort of democracy can work best on Chinese soil. And the freedom to pick its own leaders would undoubtedly aid Hong Kong. Under the present system, loyalty to the central government is a more important criterion than loyalty to Hong Kong. That's how an incompetent leader like Tung managed to stay in office so long. Given the right to choose, Hong Kong people wouldn't make that mistake...
...Then there was the West Kowloon Cultural District, a $5 billion greenfield project to build a residential, commercial and cultural complex on 40 hectares of prime harborfront owned by the government. In a city where land is worth its width in gold, the scheme, launched by Tung, ran into legislative gridlock amid concerns of a sweetheart deal for the developer that would be chosen. Critics also questioned the government's wisdom-and expertise-in creating a costly arts hub without first gauging the level of public interest in it. Today, West Kowloon, possibly some of the most valuable real estate...
...areas like West Kowloon, he knows when to give up when facing public opposition." Yet for an official who declared in his first policy address that his goal was "strong governance," giving up doesn't strike the right tone. "Politically, Donald is more compromising and accommodating than Tung, which is good," says Ma Ngok, a political scientist at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. "But that doesn't meet the public's idea of strong governance...