IT does not seem so long ago that Governor Chris Patten elevated the colonial legislature to new heights as the Sino-British negotiations over Hong Kong's future democracy entered the final rounds.
He said in his Policy Address delivered at the Legislative Council on October 3, 1993: 'Let me tell you what I believe this democratic goal means for us. It means that your Government cannot claim to be any stronger, any wiser, any more determined than the community itself.
'And in the last resort, it is you - above all, you're the community's legislature, the legislature that as the Joint Declaration says, holds the executive accountable - it is you who set the limits to the Government's power to protect and strengthen our system.' As Legco ends its four-year session after an exhaustive sitting this week, there are more doubts and disillusionment about the Governor's vision of democracy.
The administration seems to be holding on to its conviction that whatever it proposes is wise and should be supported by legislators.
At the last sitting of the session there was a strong sense of helplessness in some quarters of the chamber where it was felt the legislature was far from an effective challenger to the executive branch.
Starting at 9 am on Wednesday, the 56 non-official members were asked to put their stamp of approval on 13 government bills, most of which had only been deliberated on by the legislators for a few weeks.