Now that listening to the people has become just about the only policy which we can be sure Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa and his team support, it is worth pondering one of the more effective ways of determining what the public actually wants - the referendum.
This has become a highly sensitive issue in the context of Taiwan, where it is seen as a means by which moves towards the island's independence might be achieved. But in Hong Kong, there are no such fears. At a time when so much importance is attached to securing public support for government policies, this need not necessarily be regarded as a no-go area.
The use of referendums to determine public support for, or opposition to, the most important decisions affecting a community's future is widespread. A referendum paved the way for independence in East Timor in 1999 and another was used recently in Europe to decide whether certain nations should join the European Union or adopt the euro as their currency. Even the military junta in Myanmar has proposed a referendum on its new constitution as part of its bid to persuade the world it is serious about its road map to democracy.
In Hong Kong, the possibility of holding a referendum has been raised from time to time over issues ranging from soccer betting to Article 23. And in 1999, the Bar Association suggested a referendum should be held if changes were proposed to the Basic Law.
But the most obvious issue upon which public opinion might be sought this way would be the pace of political reform - or 'democratic advancement' as Mr Tung described it this week. The prospect may not be as unlikely, or naive, as it sounds. It is worth recalling that the holding of a referendum on whether there should be a 'general election' for the chief executive and legislature was provided for in the second draft of the Basic Law in February 1989. The referendum would only be held if two-thirds of the Legislative Council endorsed the idea and it was backed by the chief executive and the National People's Congress Standing Committee. But the clause was dropped from the final version and instead, we were left with the current arrangements which can be changed from 2007, with the 'ultimate aim' being universal suffrage.
Referendums are not a perfect means of establishing the will of the people. Governments in Europe in recent times have, as would be expected, used all the resources at their disposal to tip the balance in the direction they favour. And if, after all that, the vote still goes against them, they just wait a while and hold another one. Nonetheless, referendums are a powerful expression of public opinion. And the recent Swedish vote against adopting the euro demonstrates that, however hard they try to influence the outcome, governments do not always get their own way.