Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying relishes the challenges

For most of us, 100 days pass in the twinkling of an eye. But for Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, notching his 100th day in office on Monday will be significant - if only because it will prove the sceptics who didn't expect him to last three months wrong.

But days before reaching the landmark, Leung told the Post that the tough start to his term was no surprise - and that he wouldn't have it any other way.

"I never wanted to be just a peacetime chief executive," he said. "If it were not for the great challenges and difficulties, I would not have wanted to take up this job." Leung sat with the Post on Wednesday as he dealt with the aftermath of Monday's ferry tragedy, and said he was fully engaged with his mission to solve the city's problems.

The exciting moments of Leung's first 100 days in office have gone hand in hand with challenges. Even as he was being sworn in on July 1, tens of thousands of protesters were massing to call for his resignation.

Exactly three months on, moments after he had enjoyed the National Day fireworks, he took an urgent call from an aide telling him that two boats had collided off Lamma.

"C.Y. Leung on his challenges and rewards" video by Hedy Bok

But asked to reflect on his three months, Leung looked for positives. "The most rewarding thing is that myself and all my principal officials, together with civil servants of all ranks, have worked together extremely well, and that we're heading in the right direction," Leung said. "Predictions that the new government or myself would not be able … to work with principal officials and civil servants have been proven wrong."

But building that team has been one of Leung's challenges. Since he was elected, there have been claims that civil servants are not behind Leung. His plans for a reshuffle of the government met their Waterloo in the Legislative Council and his development chief lasted just 12 days before being forced to resign after his arrest by graft-busters.

Yet Leung insists he has a strong team - and says that otherwise he would not have been able to announce five significant measures just two weeks after taking office, on issues including poverty and housing.

But putting on a confident face is one thing - convincing the public is quite another. Before the interview, the Post received word of the latest Chinese University polling on Leung's performance, which showed his rating falling below the "pass" mark of 50 for the first time, to 48.8.

Asked if this was "bad news" on the eve of his 100-day landmark, Leung smiled.

"Of course we need to pay heed to people's rating of myself and of the government … I agree that the figures are dropping. But before we read too much into the figures, I have to say if you compare the result with that of the previous government at its last stage, our rating is not that bad."

His predecessor, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, scored 41.8 points in the same poll in June.

Leung believes people are seeing signs of hope from the new government, though "they may not see results yet".

"For example, this government recognises the fact that we have a serious housing problem and air pollution, people are seeing [the government] identifying the problems and [working out] solutions, and hopefully, we'll deliver."

The public will doubtless be divided on whether Leung was making a fair comparison with Tsang's score or merely cheering himself and his team up. But what all Hongkongers can surely agree on is this: we hope that Leung and his team can "deliver".