CHIEF EXECUTIVE Tung Chee-hwa's popularity rose somewhat immediately after his re-election was declared in February. Apparently Hong Kong people believed that as the die had been cast, they might as well hope that the administration could deliver. After all, they trusted the political parties even less. In general, new leaders get a 'honeymoon' period when the media and public consider it unfair to criticise them as they need time to get their act together. However, Mr Tung visited the Legislative Council shortly before its summer recess and appealed for more time because it would be difficult to turn the tide on the economy and unemployment within one or two years. On the basis of limited polls, the community did not respond favourably. The reasons are simple. This is Mr Tung's second term, not his first. When it was clear that half of the Hong Kong people did not support his re-election, Mr Tung did not even bother to prepare a policy platform for his campaign. He did not have anything to offer when he introduced his new team of ministers nor in his inaugural speech. He even postponed the first policy address of his second term from early October to January next year. Further, the economic situation is deteriorating. If the government has a clear-cut plan for economic recovery, asking people to wait for results may still be reasonable. Now the unemployment rate has been rising and breaking records every month, the real-estate market and stock market remain depressed, exports have fallen and the US economy is not likely to rebound this year. No wonder Hong Kong people are getting impatient. On the other hand, following the appointment of Mr Tung's new team, the local media were flooded with reports about and interviews with the new ministers. It certainly shows the government has powerful public-relations machinery, maintained with taxpayers' money. Yet, people cannot be distracted for too long. The community's general feeling has been that there are no concrete plans for implementation. Moreover, the community has been given conflicting messages. Recently, Financial Secretary Antony Leung Kam-chung promised that he has no intention of cutting public assistance. But senior officials of the Social Welfare Department are telling people that public assistance for a family of three or four exceeds the median salary of our labour force. This is not reasonable. Does it mean that the government intends to reduce assistance allowances, at least in line with the deflation rate? Early this year, top government officials, led by the then-secretary for the treasury Denise Yue Chung-yee, warned the community of the seriousness of the structural budget deficit problem. Hong Kong people were told that our fiscal reserves would dry up in six or seven years unless something was done. However, Mr Leung's budget largely maintained the status quo and avoided any drastic measures. Manipulating the community's expectations won him some applause, but the problem remains unsolved. Apparently the government intends to adopt a considerably more active role in the economy. Preferential tax cuts for hi-tech industries and lures for labour-intensive industries to return to Hong Kong are significant departures from existing policy. The Tung administration should first present its guiding principles defining its role in the economy before Hong Kong people deliberate on individual proposals. Even though the Tung administration does not appear to have brilliant ideas to revive the economy and reduce unemployment, there are at least two things it can easily accomplish in a short period. They will also help to reduce people's dissatisfaction. The first is to introduce new people into the advisory committees. Now that we have new ministers, they should ensure the advisory committees they chair are truly representative and involve a broad spectrum of views. Also, since the government has identified unemployment as the most pressing problem, it may as well adopt the proposal of some trade unions to hold an 'unemployment summit'. Hopefully, through soliciting views of all parties, some policy and a consensus may emerge. At least, it would demonstrate the administration's willingness to listen. We are tiring of public-relations exercises and political shows. Joseph Cheng Yu-shek is a professor of political science at the City University of Hong Kong