While flying the banner of effective governance, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen has suffered an early setback in his two-year term. As he was enjoying his success in last month's election, lawmakers blocked a government bill aimed at abolishing estate duty.
Led by pan-democratic members, the successful bid to defer the bill for final approval this month caught the administration off guard. Thanks to the absence from the Legislative Council of a number of pro-government legislators, the pro-democrats managed to buy more time to scrutinise the bill.
They sent the message that they were ready to make full use of their otherwise limited powers to check the executive authorities.
The impact of the bill's delay, on public finances and the economy, is immaterial. Nor has the setback caused a big fuss, with Mr Tsang's succession still the talk of the town. Behind the scenes, however, Mr Tsang and some of his top aides were shocked and embarrassed.
Mainland officials must be anxious about the implications for executive-led government. That is because the episode has laid bare some of the inherent contradictions and weaknesses in the relationship between the government and Legco. The lack of solid support in the legislature for government policies could critically hamper their implementation.
Attending his first question time at Legco just days after he was elected, Mr Tsang made clear both sides would benefit from co-operation, but suffer from going separate ways. Endless bickering between government and Legco has impaired effective governance, he said, making it difficult for legislators to serve their constituents.
He sought legislators' backing for government policies by pointing out their common interests, and citing an opinion poll commissioned by the Central Policy Unit in April. It found that Hongkongers' top concerns were unemployment, better governance and air quality. Universal suffrage ranked 13th in importance out of 25 policy issues.
