Underscoring the importance of governance keeping in step with the times, Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa pledged, in his re-election speech in December 2001, to strengthen co-operation between the executive and the legislature. Together, he said, 'we will better serve the community'. More than 10 months into his second term, the promise has turned sour with more signs of friction, unease and alienation in relations between the executive and the legislature. Last Wednesday, officials and pro-democracy groups traded insults in Legco during a debate over a no-confidence motion against Mr Tung. But instead of putting up an elaborate argument against calls for Mr Tung to step down, Constitutional Affairs Secretary Stephen Lam Sui-lung targeted the initiator of the motion, legislator Albert Chan Wai-yip. He hinted that Mr Chan had brought the motion to win over voters in preparation for the next elections. This, however, was a mere curtain raiser to Mr Tung's question time outburst the following day against the Democrats and their allies. Taking a similar approach to Mr Lam, Mr Tung was economical in his explanation of a decision not to accept Financial Secretary Antony Leung Kam-chung's resignation over the scandal surrounding his purchase of a new car before he introduced tax changes. Instead, he concentrated on attacking pro-democracy legislators over their refusal to adapt to the political changes following the handover. Reading from prepared notes, he said: 'You have bad-mouthed Hong Kong for six years, abused the SAR [special administrative region] government for six years, rejected 'one country, two systems' for six years, exhausted every means to abuse me for six years. Rarely do we hear you come up with any constructive proposals.' Mr Tung was replying to a question from unionist legislator Leung Yiu-chung. It was one of a small number of replies that was actually longer than the question. Except when announcing the setting up of a government-led investigation into the Sars outbreak, Mr Tung skipped through some important points raised by legislators. He ducked questions about his confidence in Mr Leung's integrity, insisting that he had complete trust in him. He read similar standard answers from his prepared notes when replying to questions on civil service redundancies, the budgetary deficit, medical staff infections, the 'accountability' system and the stock market. Anyone who heard Mr Tung, or read the transcript of the 80-minute session on the government website, would have been struck by the lack of insight and interaction. The tri-annual question time is one of the key arrangements for the government to be held accountable to the legislature. Mr Tung has certainly changed tack from previous sessions, this time apparently deciding to join the political game of tit-for-tat in the Legco arena. Given this aggressive style, the two sides are unlikely to form any kind of partnership. Of course, that may have been the political scenario Mr Tung had in mind when he offered an Executive Council seat to leaders of two government-friendly parties at the start of his second term. The participation of Tsang Yok-sing, of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong, and James Tien Pei-chun, who chairs the Liberal Party, has been key for the ruling coalition in securing a comfortable margin of votes in the legislature. Officials seem to believe the relationship between the executive and the legislature boils down to a question of votes. As long as a majority is secured, there is no real need for the government to form a genuine partnership with Legco. This is because any talk about strengthening the relationship hinges on the sensitive issue of sharing power and information. The fact that many of Mr Tung's answers lacked substance is indicative of the unwillingness of the administration to share information and, by extension, power with legislators in the policymaking process. Like question time, the 'meet the legislators' sessions hosted by Mr Tung and his ministers have become more of a political show than a meeting of minds and ideas. In his broadside to the Democrats, Mr Tung accused them of failing to offer any constructive ideas in the past six years. What has transpired from the attack is that Mr Tung's rhetoric about the importance of co-operation between the executive and the legislature merely represents lip service, rather than a change of mindset towards the role of an elected lawmaking body. Chris Yeung is the Post's Editor-at-Large