Ordinary Gweilo

A wonderful non-story in the SCMP today:

Tung rated most amiable city leader

Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa has been rated the most amiable city leader in the country, a survey has found. In the study, carried out by the China Institute of City Competitiveness, Mr Tung made the list of the nation’s best-known leaders along with Shanghai Mayor Chen Liangyu and Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou. He was rated the most amiable city leader, while Mr Chen was ranked the most successful mayor. Mr Ma was the most popular city leader.

Talk about damning with faint praise! Most amiable leader? Is that a polite way of saying he’s out of his depth?

Meanwhile, Mr Tung proved himself yet again to be unimaginative, insisting on appointing 104 representatives to the District Councils (to add to the elected councillors). Of course he’s entitled to do this under the Basic Law, but the District Councils don’t have any real power so he doesn’t need to do it. It’s a gift to the pro-democracy movement, and makes it more likely that they will do well in the upcoming elections for LegCo.