There is an urgent need for non-civil service Executive Councillors to do some soul-searching on how they are going to position themselves to keep pace with rising public expectations.
Most of these 11 incumbent de facto cabinet members have been conspicuous by their silence in the public controversies that have plagued the SAR Government since the handover in July 1997.
So far, only a couple of Exco members have bothered to rally behind the administration at a time when it is desperate for support, in the wake of the inquiries into the airport fiasco.
Statistics compiled by Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) indicate that only four Exco members accounted for six of the 136 occasions in which officials, academics, councillors or politicians had appeared in its morning radio show, Talkabout , last year.
Meanwhile, only three of them - Tam Yiu-chung, Henry Tang Ying-yen and Anthony Leung Kam-chung - took part in the public broadcasters' weekly televised City Forum in 1998. Those who failed to participate in any major RTHK public affairs programmes last year include Yang Ti-liang, Rosanna Wong Yick-ming, Raymond Chien Kuo-fung, Charles Lee Yeh-kwong, Chung Shui-ming and the Exco convenor, Dr Chung Sze-yuen.
The Executive Councillors, hand-picked by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa are, of course, not held answerable to any constituency. Although there appears to be some loose division of labour among them, the councillors have never been given a formal portfolio.
The discussion on the accountability of Exco dates back to July 1984, when the colonial government issued a green paper, The Further Development Of Representative Government In Hong Kong.