Hong Kong faces not one but two dead ends. One is represented by the die-hard pan-democrats who have no platform other than an intransigent ideological opposition to the central government. The other is the old ruling elite, made up of leftover colonial mandarins who pursue policies, either corruptly or inadvertently, that favour our business oligarchs. The surprise election of Leung Chun-ying as the new chief executive now presents us with a real, if untested, way out of this political and economic impasse.

It's in this context that we should understand the significance of Civic Party founder Chua Hoi-wai and Democratic Party steward Andrew Fung Wai-kwong deserting their party faithful to try to join the new government. Chua, a business director of the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, has applied to be undersecretary for labour and welfare. He has quit the party because it does not allow members to join the government. Earlier, Fung is believed to have secretly applied to be an undersecretary without telling his party, whose leaders have denounced him as 'a traitor'.

Their actions are not a betrayal, as claimed by their former comrades, but a show of political courage. They deserve applause for trying to venture beyond the pan-democrats' ideological blind alley. Together with Executive Council member Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, who is tipped to be the next housing minister, the trio have a chance of representing a real democratic core within the new government.