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The Rise and Decline of Political Support for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 February 2017

Lau Siu-kai
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Extract

ON 1 JULY 1997, THE END OF COLONIAL RULE USHERED IN A NEW government for the 6½ million people of Hong Kong. Ironically, in stark contrast to other new regimes which took over from colonial rulers, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government was greeted with only a moderate amount of enthusiasm by the governed. Nevertheless, public support for the new regime mounted in the first four months of its existence. Since October 1997, however, it has declined continuously and has now reached a low level. Evidently, the governing strategy crafted by the HKSAR government had achieved a certain degree of success in the early months of its existence. Since then, though the HKSAR government obstinately follows this governing strategy, changes in the conditions in Hong Kong have in any case rendered this strategy obsolete. Low public support is bound to undermine effective governance in postcolonial Hong Kong.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 34 , Issue 3 , July 1999 , pp. 352 - 371
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 1999

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References

1 See Siu–kai, Lau, ‘Democratization and Decline of Trust in Public Institutions in Hong Kong’, Democratization, 3:2 (Summer 1996), pp. 158–80CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 The sample (N = 1,410) used in the questionnaire survey was drawn by means of a multi–stage design. The target population of the survey were the Chinese inhabitants of Hong Kong aged 18 years or over. Fieldwork was conducted mostly from 7 May to 30 June 1997. By then 90.5 per cent of the successful interviews were completed, while the rest of the interviews were carried out from 2 July to 9 September 1997. At the end of the survey, 701 interviews were successfully completed, yielding a response rate of 49.7 per cent.

3 See Siu–kai, Lau and Hsin–chi, Kuan, ‘Public Attitudes toward Political Authorities and Colonial Legitimacy in Hong Kong’, The Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, 33:l (03 1995), p. 81 Google Scholar.

4 Slightly over half (53.4 per cent) of the respondents expressed confidence in Hong Kong’s future, as against 11.1 per cent who had no confidence. About one–third (32.1 per cent) were betwixt and between.

5 The 400–member Election Committee, which elected the Chief Executive, was also the body which elected the Provisional Legislative Council.

6 See for example speech by Hwa, Tung Chee, ‘Building a 21st Century Hong Kong Together’ ( 22 10 1996 ), pp. 5 and 10 Google Scholar; and Tung, C. H., ‘A Future of Excellence and Prosperity for All’, speech by the Chief Executive at the Ceremony to celebrate the Establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, 1 07 1997 , Hong Kong, HKSAR Government, 1997, p. 18 Google Scholar.

7 Siu–kai, Lau and Hsin–chi, Kuan, The Ethos of the Hong Kong Chinese, Hong Kong, Chinese University Press, 1988 Google Scholar.

8 Siu–kai, Lau, ‘The Fraying of the Socio–economic Fabric of Hong Kong’, The Pacific Review, 10:3 (1997), pp. 426–41Google Scholar.

9 See Lau and Kuan, ‘Public Attitudes toward Political Authorities’.

10 Alagappa, Muthiah, ‘Introduction’, in Alagappa, M. (ed.), Political Legitimacy in Southeast Asia: The Quest for Moral Authority, Stanford, Stanford University Pressm, 1995, p. 22 Google Scholar.

11 Apple Daily, 6 April 1998, p. A12.

12 Ibid., 27 July 1998, p. A2; 5 October 1998, p. A6; and 1 February 1999, p. A16.

13 Home Affairs Department, Report on a Telephone Opinion Poll in January 1999, Hong Kong, Home Affairs Department, 1999, p. 25 Google Scholar.

14 Khong, Cho–oon, ‘Singapore: Political Legitimacy Through Managing Conformity’, in Alagappa, M. (ed.), Political Legitimacy, p. 112 Google Scholar.

15 Ibid., pp. 113–14.