Leung Chun-ying pledges to tackle Hong Kong's core issues
Chief executive reassures voters he can handle any challenge the city throws at him, after one of the rockiest starts in Hong Kong politics
After a tumultuous first 90 days in office, chief executive Leung Chun-ying has pledged to tackle the city's controversial issues quickly.
Yesterday, Leung said he would rule on national education as soon as the committee reviewing its future reached a conclusion, rather than waiting for a written report, which might take months.
Summing up his political baptism of fire, the chief executive said he and his team could rise to any challenges the city presented.
He said: "I know the kitchen is hot, that's why we need people in it.''
Leung said many Hongkongers' objections to national education were oversimplified, focusing on the course having an excessively pro-Beijing bias and calling for its withdrawal.
During the Commercial Radio interview, Leung discussed whether scrapping the subject was synonymous with telling schools that wanted to launch the subject to rein in their plans.
On another sensitive subject, he slammed claims the government's development plan for the northeastern New Territories was an attempt to "sell Hong Kong land to mainlanders".