HKU POP SITE releases the latest results on the four subjective freedom indicatorsBack

The Public Opinion Programme (POP) at the University of Hong Kong today releases on schedule via the "HKU POP SITE" (http://hkupop.pori.hk) the latest results on the 4 subjective freedom indicators on Hong Kong's freedom of "speech", "press", "publication", and "procession and demonstration". POP's normal practice is to release the results of our regular surveys every Tuesday at 2 pm via our POP Site, except during public holidays, each time with a forecast of the items to be released in the forthcoming week. We will review and adjust this operation regularly. According to this schedule, the date and time of our next release will be January 28, 2003, Tuesday, at 2 pm, the latest rating of CE Tung Chee-hwa, people's satisfaction with the HKSAR Government, the performance of the members of the Legislative Council in general as well as CE's policy direction will be released.

Between January 2 and 7, 2003, POP conducted a random telephone survey which successfully interviewed 1,063 Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong of age 18 or above, to gauge people's ratings on the 4 subjective freedom indicators on Hong Kong's freedom of "speech", "press", "publication", and "procession and demonstration". Results showed that, on a scale of 0-10, "publication" and "press" freedoms scored the highest ratings of 7.16 and 7.12 marks respectively. Freedom of "speech" scored 6.93 marks, while that of "procession and demonstration" scored 6.33 marks. When compared to the corresponding figures obtained in early October last year, the ratings for "speech", "press" and "publication" have stayed virtually unchanged, whereas that of "procession and demonstration" has increased by 0.2 mark from a recent low.

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, who is responsible for this survey, has the following interpretations on the findings: "Freedom is one of the major pillars of our society, therefore, both objective and subjective freedom indicators serve as important references for the development of Hong Kong. Since the handover, POP has continuously conducted tests to grasp the public mood on our society's development using 24 subjective indicators. Among them, 10 are related to different kinds of freedom, including freedom of speech, press, publication, procession and demonstration, association, as well as that to strike, enter or leave the region, engage in academic and artistic activities, and that of religious belief. Of the 10 freedom indicators, freedom of "press", "publication" and "speech" generally rank in the middle, fluctuating between 7.0 to 7.5 marks, while that of "procession and demonstration" usually ranks last or second last, scoring 6.0 to 7.0 marks, and with greater fluctuations. Such fluctuations must have been closely related to the amendment and enforcement of the Public Order Ordinance. The recent low recorded for this indicator was 6.13 marks registered in early October last year, obviously a reflection of the impact posed by the consultations of Basic Law Article 23. However, rating of this indicator has rebound slightly early this month to 6.33 marks, probably due to the occurrence of many large-scale processions and assemblies late last month, and the relatively moderate approach taken by the police in dealing with them".

The new poll released in the POP Site today is a random telephone survey conducted by interviewers, targeting at Cantonese speakers in Hong Kong of age 18 or above. The sample size of the survey is 1,063 respondents. At 95% confidence level, the sampling error of the four freedom indicators is less than plus/minus 0.14 mark. The meaning of "95% confidence level" is that if we were to repeat a certain survey 100 times, using the same questions each time but with different random samples, we would expect 95 times getting a figure within the error margins specified. Shall anyone have any question regarding the research design of the surveys published in the POP Site, members of the POP Team will be happy to answer them, but we will not further comment on the findings. Shall any person or journalist have any other questions, please email them to us at <[email protected]>. The Director of Public Opinion Programme would answer them as soon as possible. We will keep such an arrangement under constant review, suggestions most welcome. Please note that everything carried in the POP Site does not represent the stand of the University of Hong Kong. Dr Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, is responsible for everything posted herewith, except for column articles which represent the stand of their authors.