Boss and I don't always see things in the same light, John Tsang says
Does the financial secretary see eye to eye with his boss, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, over government policies?
Under the doctrine of collective responsibility, which requires officials to promote policies whether they agree with them or not, we would never know. But John Tsang Chun-wah offered students some insight on the matter yesterday.
'We have too many [disputes],' he told them during a discussion about his budget speech delivered last week.
'Is Donald a good boss? He should be counted as one, but that doesn't mean we don't have differences,' Tsang told one questioner. 'During the policymaking process, we always argue until our faces turn red.'
Still, he characterised these arguments as rational discussions.
Tsang faced a range of questions at a forum yesterday organised by the Federation of Youth Groups. Students asked about the lack of measures in the budget to rein in fastrising property prices, and questioned whether steps announced to help the needy were adequate.
The financial secretary reiterated that the HK$20.4 billion in relief measures for households he announced in the budget - including salaries tax and rates rebates and a partial waiver of public housing rent - were in addition to considerable regular spending on public services. He said that while his budget was not perfect, he had followed policy directions laid down by the chief executive in his policy address last year.
Tsang is seen by some as a dark-horse candidate for chief executive. While none of the students asked him directly whether he had any ambition to fill Donald Tsang's shoes, some were interested to know what he considered his noteworthy personal qualities to be.
'The most important thing is that I have always tried to fulfil my duties with all my heart,' Tsang said. 'This is what I have achieved.'
Meanwhile, fewer than three in 10 people polled by Chinese University said they were satisfied with the budget and 43.4 per cent thought it only 'so-so'. Nearly one in six of the 752 respondents were dissatisfied with it.
Forty-four per cent of those polled said the budget had not done enough for the middle class, and 31 per cent said it had done too little for the poor. Overall, respondents gave the budget a score of 58.1 per cent out of 100.
Still, the survey found Tsang's popularity rose 2.1 points to 56.8 out of 100 after be delivered his budget. It also found dissatisfaction with the government had dropped 6.5 percentage points in a month, to 28.1 per cent. The survey had a margin for error of plus or minus 3.57 per cent.
