The Standard
2003-07-02 

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Editorial 
Resounding vote of no confidence in Tung 

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The people of Hong Kong have spoken.

The question now is whether the Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, and his administration will listen. 

Despite the heat, as many as 500,000 people from all walks of life took to the streets yesterday to say they have had enough. 

These were not people just out for a walk in the sunshine, as our Secretary for Security, Regina Ip, so contemptuously indicated last weekend. 

These are people who are concerned about their future and the future of Hong Kong. 

At the centre of their anger is the way the administration has pushed the anti-subversion legislation that is to be enacted under Article 23 of the Basic Law, legislation that many fear will limit the rights of people living in Hong Kong. 

But yesterday's demonstration is more than a protest against Article 23. 

It is a vote of no confidence in Tung and his administration. 

Six years since the handover of sovereignty, Tung has lost credibility in the eyes of the people of Hong Kong. 

Not since the dark days of June 1989, when more than one million people took to the streets following the Tiananmen Square massacre, have we seen such an outpouring of frustration and anger. 

Tung may dismiss yesterday's demonstration as an example of the ``one country, two systems'' working, but he will be missing the point. 

Since the handover, the people of Hong Kong have watched as their overall standard of living deteriorated in a city that Tung likes to refers to as ``Asia's World City'', a ``world city'' where unemployment is now at record levels. 

For many people of Hong Kong, the future is clouded in uncertainty. 

Even the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement may not provide the security many had initially hoped the agreement would bring. In short, Tung has failed to produce anything of substance and the people have had enough. They said so yesterday, loud and clear.