No sparks as Tsang faces first Legco session
Just before Donald Tsang Yam-kuen was due to face Legco for the first time as chief executive, a pro-Beijing politician grumbled that the question-and-answer session would be a boring 60 minutes.
He wasn't far off the mark. Apart from the usual noises from 'Long Hair' Leung Kwok-hung and a few jokes, the clashes typical of the Tung Chee-hwa era were absent.
Mr Tsang had not expected to see many friends in the legislature, but his critics failed to find a suitable means to launch a worthwhile attack.
Take Emily Lau Wai-hing, The Frontier firebrand. She tried to focus on Mr Tsang's remarks that the people were more concerned about the economy than democracy, but her effort missed its target.
Courtesy also got in the way of the usual animosity.
Instead of pressing questions on the political agenda, former Democratic Party chairman Yeung Sum appeared to be more interested in flooding problems in Kennedy Town. Sin Chung-kai concentrated on issues regarding the exchange fund, only for Mr Tsang to dismiss them as irrelevant.
Buoyed, perhaps, by the Chinese University poll yesterday which placed his rating at 70.4 per cent, Mr Tsang repeatedly brushed off suggestions from the democrats, saying their policies were not in line with public demands.
He was acting like a strong political leader, allies said afterwards.
Even supporters such as Lau Kong-wah, vice-chairman of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, did not get an easy ride. Asked by Mr Lau to define what it meant to be a politician, rather than a 'political guest' caring only for his own gain, Mr Tsang said: 'You have to ask an academic to explain that.'
He was probably still smarting after being mistakenly referred to by his old title of chief secretary a few times.
Although he mocked friend and foe alike, Mr Tsang did take the unusual step of calling the Liberal Party his friends, when chairman James Tien Pei-chun asked how to improve mutual relations.
That is probably understandable, given Liberal legislator Jeffery Lam Kin-fung's flattery yesterday. The Chamber of Commerce representative said the sunshine after days of rain was a sign that Mr Tsang had brought an economic upturn with him.
Unionist Kwong Chi-kin summed up the occasion perfectly: 'I cannot believe it was so boring.'
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