Word: tsang
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...developer that would be chosen. Critics also questioned the government's wisdom-and expertise-in creating a costly arts hub without first gauging the level of public interest in it. Today, West Kowloon, possibly some of the most valuable real estate on the planet, stands idle-a dirt wasteland. Tsang has failed to advance other elements of his agenda, too. Air pollution, a perennial problem Tsang has vowed to combat, continues to choke the territory, harming public health and hurting Hong Kong's international reputation as a wonderful place to live...
...Even Tsang's one major legislative success, getting the go-ahead for a new $665 million government headquarters on the harbor's southern edge, has run into criticism that the new development is unnecessary and will aggravate downtown gridlock. Tsang counters that his administration has been productive: "We have passed nearly 300 pieces of legislation of one kind or other. People just listen to one piece of law being a stumbling block, without realizing that a lot of things are going through every day." He admits that "some things I tried to do did not come through," but adds...
...Anywhere else, such setbacks would not harm someone's political reputation for long. But Hong Kong is such a can-do town of winners that just a couple of reversals can be magnified to give you a loser's image. Tsang's supporters say his retreats are a sign of pragmatism. "He is bold and determined," says Choy So-yuk, a Legislative Council member from the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB). "In areas like West Kowloon, he knows when to give up when facing public opposition." Yet for an official who declared...
...fair, the blame for a lack of sparkle in Tsang's administration so far cannot be laid solely at his door. Hong Kong's system is intended to have a strong Chief Executive, but the top official cannot be a member of a political party, which means that he has to build support from parties with often competing agendas, like the pro-business Liberal Party and the DAB, which champions Hong Kong's working class. Some believe that limiting the Chief Executive election to just an élite 800, who in turn are selected by only about 200,000 voters...
...Tsang's boosters say that the best is yet to come, and point to his great strength: he's popular. With approval ratings consistently in the mid-60s, Tsang does not lack for support. "He's pretty good," says Johnny Lau, 35, an advertising worker taking a cigarette break beneath a campaign billboard for Alan Leong. In Mongkok, on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong harbor-and one of the most densely populated tracts of land on the planet-Rex Lau, 37, who is working in a bicycle-repair shop, echoes the sentiment. "Donald Tsang is doing okay," he allows...