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Although officials have dismissed the controversy over the proposed birthday banquet for Sir Sze-yuen Chung as a storm in a teacup, it is time Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa considered why he and his top advisers have been so insensitive to the public mood.

 The community outcry over the invitation to Government House - which was scheduled for next Monday but which Sir Sze-yuen yesterday announced he had declined - was unprecedented.

 The expressions of grievances were greater than when the inadequate welfare provisions for the elderly were outlined in Mr Tung's maiden policy address.

 The official plan to celebrate the 80th birthday of the Executive Council convenor was exposed by the press last Wednesday.

 Apple Daily reported that taxpayers' money would be spent on the event and senior civil servants had been instructed to shop for birthday gifts on behalf of the Exco members who would attend the function.

 The paper carried an editorial denouncing the decision for failing to draw a clear line between public and private interests. The topic was picked up by the radio talk shows the same morning.

 Commercial Radio 1's Teacup in a Storm, in particular, urged listeners to add their voices to the chorus of discontent.

 According to the latest ratings, some 450,000 tuned in to the provocative three-hour programme, hosted by Albert Cheng King-hon and Peter Lam.

 About 1.5 million newspaper readers and radio listeners should have been aware of the news before noon.

 More importantly, they may also have been influenced by the strong opinion against the plan reported by the media.

 Nobody in the 190,000-strong civil service cared to respond in person to the criticism, even when the event became prime-time TV news.

 The Chief Executive himself was on an official trip to Europe as public dissatisfaction snowballed.

 Only individual Exco members were quoted in defence of Mr Tung's hospitality.

 It was pointed out that former governor Chris Patten often entertained guests at his official residence.

 This line of argument overlooks the fact that Mr Tung had rejected the use of Government House as his official residence for several reasons, including fung shui considerations.

 The television stations' infotainment programmes took over where their news reporting colleagues left off.

 TVB Jade's Focus on Focus chose the topic as the theme for its game of the day and viewers were encouraged to choose whether they approved of the feast by dialling a toll number.

 For a charge of $1, callers entered a lucky draw and responded to the proposal with a 99 per cent rejection rate.

 Most other dailies carried follow-up stories and commentaries on the issue next morning.

 Apple Daily came up with its own computer-aided opinion survey, indicating that close to 75 per cent of people found the banquet arrangement unacceptable.

 The figures provided further ammunition for the morning talk-back shows to shoot at Mr Tung and his cabinet.

 A clear indication of the public's opinion on the matter had emerged within just 24 hours.

 Activists, including those from the Democratic Party, surfed on the wave of public opinion by announcing they would mobilise a group of senior citizens to petition Government House on the night of the banquet.

 Apparently still unaware of the intensity of feeling, Mr Tung insisted in London on Thursday there had been some 'misunderstanding'. He told reporters that he had been having lunch and dinner with different people in order to communicate with, listen to and sometimes express appreciation of, them.

 'Some people have misunderstood the issue. I hope they can accept my explanation,' he said. Ta Kung Pao then highlighted the 'misunderstanding' in the headline of its report. But in the minds of the majority in Hong Kong, there has been no misunderstanding. Mr Tung himself has failed to grasp reality.

 The public has long been sceptical about his practice of running the administration as his own private business.

 The view of Ng Ming-lam, a co-presenter of RTHK Radio 1's The Nineties, seems to have struck a chord in the audience. He insists that, no matter how you look at it, a birthday banquet cannot be regarded as an official event.

 Critics noted that similar ideas had been discarded in the less disciplined environment of mainland China. They pointed out that President Jiang Zemin shot down proposals to hold an official celebration for Deng Xiaoping when he turned 90.

 In fact, the late paramount leader himself frowned on such plans, lest they revive the cult of personality.

 Local discontent has spilled over to major overseas Cantonese-speaking communities. Fairchild Radio, a Canadian-Chinese network, organised a countrywide phone-in slot for listeners in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary to talk about Hong Kong issues on Saturday night. The two-hour show, which was also relayed on the Internet, was dominated by criticisms of Mr Tung's actions.

 Predictably, the callers were more enthusiastic about the banquet plan than the stock market crash in Hong Kong, which triggered frantic selling around the world. The objections started to subside only after Mr Tung pledged on his return from London to reconsider the arrangement in view of the public reaction.

 A few years ago it would take the community a few days to digest an issue before a majority view formed.

 The dynamic mass media in Hong Kong have now shortened the process to just a few hours.

 Mr Tung's existing political barometers are obviously inadequate.

 Unless he comes up with better ways to keep his fingers on the pulse of the community, he may soon suffer another surprise.



Party plan peeves public