Eighteen months after the end of colonial rule, people are at a loss about how to run the territory in the years ahead.
Pro-democracy politicians argue that moving faster towards democratic elections would solve fundamental constitutional problems, because it would let voters decide who leads them and what government policies would be.
However, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa makes clear that now is not the time for drastic change.
Though neither business executives nor Tung-friendly political parties think the status quo is fine, they are convinced that more intense elective politics would aggravate management problems rather than solve them.
They would rather change the executive-led system gradually by drafting private sector experts into senior civil service ranks while pressing other bureaucrats to improve efficiency.
Civil servants concede the situation is far from ideal, but warn against both radical overhaul of the system or accelerating democracy. For one thing, they say it is necessary to heed Beijing's stated worries about 'over-politicisation' of the SAR when deciding just how people should exercise autonomous power.
Meanwhile, from the sidelines, often-neutral academics say Mr Tung needs to change his strategy of governance and his scepticism about politics. They cite a broad range of fundamental questions about governing Hong Kong, which they say have emerged since the handover and need to be settled soon. These include: How much power and influence should the legislature have in an executive-led structure? How can the Government win support from the Legislative Council without creating constitutional crises? What role should political parties have under the present setup, and what is their future in face of the changes ahead? In the long run, should a majority party in Legco form the Government? Should democratic elections be introduced more rapidly than now scheduled? If not, how soon after 2007 - when the Basic Law permits - should full popular elections take place and under what terms? More importantly, how can people allay their fears that democracy might turn the SAR from an 'economic city' into a 'political city?' According to Secretary for Constitutional Affairs Michael Suen Ming-yeung, the present system will do, provided civil servants learn to work more effectively.