At least the public is still confident at the judicial branch,
Hong Kong is probably the only territory in China that has judicial indepdence
Today's Hong Kong mingpao newspaper has an editoral on challenges Hong Kong's government is facing in governing Hong Kong. After reading this editoral, I feel like sharing some of my thought on the system.
Hong Kong's government system mirrors the US system in many ways. The executive branch and the legislative branch are completely seperated. The chief executive (CE) and its cabinet members are often not members of the legislative council. It is a system that works well in the US but is failing Hong Kong.
When the legislative branch and the executive branch are divided on an issue, the United States President has the political captial to negogiate with the Congress because the president is elected by the people of the US. On other side, Hong Kong's CE looks weak in front of the legislative council because it is elected by a non democratic electoral college. Unlike the US president, it is much more difficult for the CE to claim its own opinion represent the interest of the general public.
Another major failure of Hong Kong's current government system is on the selection of the cabinet members (In Hong Kong, the term "cabinet members" means the secrataries to the major departments and members of the executive council.). Most of the cabinet appointments in the US must be approved by the Congress. The appointees are also usually professionals that have tremendous experience that is related to the appointment. It is not uncommon for the president to select members from the opposing parties to be in the cabinet. This rigorous selection system doesn't exist in Hong Kong. The CE could form a very biased cabinet and only hear one sided opinion on many issues. This makes it very easy for the cabinet and the legislative council on a collision course in many issues.
