The Chief Executive should be grateful that polls on him were negative because this was a good demonstration of freedom of expression, a pro-vice-chancellor told the panel yesterday.
Professor Cheng Kai-ming said: 'I said that if anybody was unhappy about poll results, they could engineer another poll on other issues that could bring about favourable results.'
He made the remarks while recounting the 'cynical points' he had made at a senior management team meeting on January 6 this year when vice-chancellor Professor Cheng Yiu-chung briefed him and other pro-vice-chancellors on the context of an article published by the pro-Beijing Mirror magazine.
The article attacked an exit poll carried out during last November's district council election conducted by Dr Robert Chung Ting-yiu, director of the Public Opinion Programme (POP).
Recounting what he said at that meeting, Professor Cheng Kai-ming said: 'It is rather stupid to be serious about opinion polls . . . and it is ignorant to assume that opinion polls could be value-free or bias-free.'
He added: 'The vice-chancellor or [pro-vice-chancellor] Professor Wong [Siu-lun] did mention the quality of the polls, but that did not lead to a very elaborate discussion.'