Forget the philosophy, let's have answers

A week and a half ago, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying delivered a 45-minute monologue in the Legislative Council, outlining his governing philosophy. Lawmakers were given no time for questions but Leung did later share his thoughts over sandwiches with editors at the Tamar headquarters in Admiralty.

And lawmakers are expected to get their turn at a full question session on Thursday.

While Leung, in his speech, wanted to lay the groundwork for his key leadership ideas, many in the community are impatient for more concrete answers to lingering controversies - quite a number of which were caused by the government and Leung's own supporters.

A good example is the Kai Tak development project. "Government sources" told the media weeks ago that it was considering dropping a proposed sports stadium at the site and relocating it to Lantau to free up more inner-city land for housing. This caused an uproar in the sports sector, including upsetting legislator Ma Fung-kwok - a once diehard Leung fan who represents the sports constituency.

The most vocal advocate of the proposal was Leung's housing policy adviser, Michael Choi Ngai-min. Housing minister Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung said only that the government was reviewing the project and had made no decision. This led to a heated debate in the community over whether sport should make way for housing needs.

Other issues demanded answers, including national education and the old-age allowance scheme.

So, as editors gathered in the government headquarters conference room with Leung, some started to wonder whether the city really needed a discussion about Leung's governing philosophy or practical solutions to more urgent problems.