HKU POP SITE releases the survey results on the suitability of Principal Officials designatesBack

| Background | Latest Figures | Commentary | News about POP | 
| Detailed Findings (The suitability of Principal Officials designates) |

The former Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa introduced an accountability system of Principal Officials in 2002 and formulated 3 Departments as well as 11 Bureaux. On June 24, 2002, he announced the first term of Principal Officials under the accountability system. Shortly after the list announced, the Public Opinion Programme (POP) at the University of Hong Kong started a survey to gauge people's opinion towards the suitability of each Principal Official designates. The wordings used were, 「Chief Executive has appointed XXX as YYYYY. Do you think XXX is an ideal candidate?」 Survey findings were released on June 27, 2002. Please visit "HKU POP SITE" (http://hkupop.pori.hk) for details. On June 23, 2007, Chief Executive Donald Tsang announced the list of new term of Principal Officials, including 3 Secretaries of Departments and 12 Directors of Bureaux. POP immediately began an opinion survey by using the same mean to gauge people's view about the appropriateness of the Principal Official designates, and compared the figures with those of 5 years ago.

POP today releases on schedule via the HKU POP SITE the latest survey results of the suitability of Principal Officials designates. All the figures have been weighted according to latest provisional figures obtained from the Census and Statistics Department regarding the gender-age distribution of the Hong Kong population. Herewith the contact information for the surveys:

The table below reveals the appropriateness of the Secretaries of Departments in 2002 and 2007 respectively:

The survey revealed that 74% of the respondents regarded Henry Tang as an appropriate candidate for Chief Secretary for Administration, 10% disagreed. Meanwhile, 48% of the respondents considered John Tsang as Financial Secretary appropriate while 14% disagreed. As for Secretary for Justice, 85% believed Wong Yan-lung was suitable for the post and only 2% disagreed. Generally speaking, 69% considered them appropriate candidates for the three positions.

Suitability of the 12 Directors of Bureaux in 2002 and 2007 are tabulated as follows:

Regarding Directors of the 12 Bureaux, 89% of the respondents considered the appointment of Ambrose Lee as Secretary for Security appropriate while 3% held the opposite view. 79% agreed that Matthew Cheung was appropriate Secretary for Labour and Welfare while 6% did not share the view. 77% of the respondents thought York Chow's appointment as Secretary for Food and Health fit while 13% considered it unfit. Concerning Chan Kar-keung's appointment as Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury, 70% of the respondents thought it was suitable but 6% did not share the same view. 67% of the respondents agreed that Denise Yue was suitable as Secretary for the Civil Service while 4% disagreed. On the suitability of Frederick Ma as Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, 64% regarded him as an appropriate candidate while 15% did not. Concerning Stephen Lam commencing as Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, 61% agreed that he was suitable while 22% disagreed. On the appointment of Eva Cheng as Secretary for Transport and Housing, 57% of the respondents thought it was fit while 14% did not think so. 56% considered the appointment of Edward Yau as Secretary for the Environment suitable while 9% thought the opposite. On Tsang Tak-sing's commencement as Secretary for Home Affairs, 52% thought it was appropriate while 16% opposed. On the other hand, while 46% of the respondents regarded Michael Suen as appropriate Secretary for Education, 35% did not share the view. Finally, on the appointment of Carrie Lam as Secretary for Development, 59% thought it was appropriate while 11% did not think so. Overall speaking, 65% considered them appropriate candidates for the twelve positions.

With respect to the whole cabinet, 66% considered the 15 Principal Officials designates appropriate candidates for their positions, while 12% thought the opposite and 23% did not know. The average recognition rate was 78% As for the survey in 2002, 58% considered the 14 Principal Officials designates appropriate candidates for their positions, while 19% thought the opposite and 23% did not know. The average recognition rate was 74%.

Commentary

Robert Ting-Yiu Chung, Director of Public Opinion Programme, observed, "Other than three postings, people's initial appraisal of the new Cabinet led by Donald Tsang is higher than that of Tung Chee-hwa five years ago, both in terms of individual postings or overall evaluation. People's average appraisal of the 15 officials at their designate stage is a positive 66%, which is 8 percentage points higher than that of the 14 officials five years ago. Their average recognition rate is 78%, verses 74% before. This shows that people are more confident in the new Cabinet than five years ago. Nevertheless, it should be noted that people's appraisal of Donald Tsang as Chief Secretary for Administration five years ago is higher than that of Henry Tang this time, people's appraisal of Anthony Leung as Financial Secretary is higher than that of John Tsang this time, and people's appraisal of Arthur Li as Secretary for Education and Manpower is higher than that of Michael Suen. Because the Development Bureau is new, we cannot compare Carrie Lam to her predecessor. Of course, only time can tell whether people's initial appraisal is right or wrong, but as a starting point, people seem to be more optimistic than five years ago."

News about POP

POP's normal practice is to release the results of our regular surveys every Tuesday afternoon via our POP Site, except during public holidays, each time with a forecast of the items to be released in the next 7 days. According to schedule, our next release of regular survey findings will be July 10, 2007, Tuesday, between 1pm to 2pm, when the latest figures of people's satisfaction with Legco members in general, the Hong Kong Police Force and the PLA Hong Kong Garrison will be released. Then, on July 12, 2007, Thursday, between 1pm to 2pm, the latest findings of people's appraisal of society's current conditions will be released.

Our general practice is to answer all questions on the research design of the surveys published in the POP Site as soon as we receive them, but we will not further comment on the findings. We welcome questions for follow-up purpose, please email them to us at <[email protected]>. 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 POP, is responsible for everything posted herewith, except for column articles which represent the stand of their authors.

| Background | Latest Figures | Commentary | News about POP | 
| Detailed Findings (The suitability of Principal Officials designates) |