The Sars crisis is also a chance to build community
As top officials in the Hong Kong government engaged in petty political shows - street cleaning, eating and shopping - to raise public morale over the Easter weekend, the political peace was broken in Beijing over the Sars crisis. The sacking of Beijing mayor Meng Xuenong and health minister Zhang Wenkang not only came as a major shock to the mainland bureaucracy, it has also raised questions about Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa, whose handling of the outbreak has been criticised as lacklustre.
The decisive move by President Hu Jintao has led sensitive commentators to smell hints of a power struggle, as Mr Zhang was considered a protege of former president Jiang Zemin. Implications of party infighting aside, what should be noted is that Mr Hu and Premier Wen Jiabao have both sought to consolidate their political mandate by emphasising that the people's interest should top the fourth-generation leaders' agenda. The dismissal of incompetent senior officials has been enthusiastically welcomed by overseas observers as paving the way for a new era of executive accountability.
Sars has left the mainland facing its worst image crisis since Tiananmen. Labelled as the source of the deadly virus and lambasted for covering up the number of cases, and hence, putting the rest of the world at risk - the mainland, under Mr Hu, has to demonstrate it can put its house back in order. The sackings are necessary, not just because the officials concerned failed in their duty, but also to assert the new leadership's authority, to show the nation and the international community that they are firmly in charge.
Critics of Mr Tung are using the mainland sackings as the basis for renewed calls for him to step down. Despite his fast-declining popularity, Mr Tung cannot be made to take all the blame for the Sars setback, especially as it was the mainland health authorities' economy with information about the virus outbreak that put Hong Kong in jeopardy in the first place.
Mr Tung, no doubt, has serious shortcomings, which are not unknown to officials in Beijing, but keeping him in his job is still deemed a lesser evil by the central government.
Mr Hu's latest move has put Mr Tung under pressure of a different kind. First, now that tackling Sars has become Mr Hu's top priority and the test of his authority and effectiveness, Hong Kong cannot slacken in its efforts to combat the virus. As the worst-hit area outside the mainland, Hong Kong is on the front line and Mr Tung has an important mission (or burden) to see that the city can lead itself, and help the nation, out of the crisis.
Second, Mr Hu has unleashed a new style of administration and a new approach. Since the handover in 1997, the Hong Kong administration has been criticised by many as becoming too like the mainland government in its style and set of values. Political correctness, government by rhetoric, empty patriotic talk and small-circle politics abound.