Essay

Second term Chief Executive

There has been a controversy topic over whether Mr. Tung should run for the Chief Executive for the second term after his 5-year term to be the first Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR. During his term, the government faced many huge difficulties, such as Asian financial turmoil, the high unemployment rate and the huge financial deficit.

Consequently, the Collision Against Second Term (CAST) is set up for opposing Mr. Tung to serve as the Chief Executive for the second term. The Collision is formed by more than 30 organizations, including the Frontier, the Hong Kong Society For Community Organization, Democratic Party. They dissatisfied with Mr. Tung that he made the economy even worse than before. They want a Chief Executive who is democratic enough to win most people’s support, but not a pro-Beijing Chief Executive, like Mr. Tung.

As an opinion of mine, Hong Kong is a democratic city compared to the mainland. The followers of Falungung, a banned religious organization in China, could not show any of their interest about it in the main land. However, they could do any thing they like in Hong Kong, for example, to demonstrate and practice the Falungung. It can be a part of their freedom according to the Basic Law. People in Hong Kong may demonstrate against anyone, even the toppest leader, like the Chief Executive. But in mainland China, it is impossible to show any unsatisfactory to the leader of the people, like President Jiang. It is very sad that Mr. Tung speeched to the public that Falungung was ‘an evil religion’ shortly after the leaders of China banned it.

So, here you can see what is the most important for Hong Kong people and why there were so many people coming out to say ‘no’ to Mr. Tung. I could only say that if he serves the position for one more term, it would be a suffering for all our general citizens. For our own good, more and more CAST should be set up!

December, 2001