Monitoring Expectations is the Cornerstone for Building a Strong Image - A Commentary on Tung Chee-hwa's Public Image

Wai-kwong Fung

自從香港特區政府委任林瑞麟為特別行政區行政長官辦公室新聞統籌專員後，行政長官董建華的公眾形象及公關技巧似乎有初步的改善，但是有很多地方仍有待改進，關鍵是在於董建華需要理解一個現代化社會的構成因素和香港市民對特首及政府的期望。

Ever since late 1997, Tung Chee-hwa, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, has come under heavy criticism for his lack of public relations skills. Almost one year ago, though, in late 1998, Tung at last appeared to have learned from his mistakes. He appointed a spin doctor ___ Stephen Lam ___ to occupy the newly created post of Information Coordinator. Local public relations professionals welcomed the move, which did, in fact, result in some improvement in Tung's PR efforts. We saw, for example, a swift response to the August 22 China Airlines disaster.

This is not to say, however, that it has all gone smoothly. Recent surveys still indicate that Tung's popularity is not high and that he still is failing to achieve a strong, positive image. If it is true that successful PR triggers changes in the behavior of a target audience, then Tung's PR campaign is far from successful.

To establish the positive image he seeks, and hence gain greater support among Hong Kong people for his policies and administration, Tung may need to revisit some PR basics. To launch a successful PR campaign, one needs first to identify, then monitor and respond to, public expectations. 

Know your people and their expectations

The first and foremost step, then, is to identify those public expectations. Tung may have a grand plan for Hong Kong. He may want Hong Kong people to become patriotic Chinese people. But before he can accomplish this, he first of all needs to understand the aspirations of these people. 

With more than 100 years of being at arm's length from China, Hong Kong people, though they readily embrace being Chinese, would like to maintain Hong Kong's special status. They want Hong Kong to become a unique city and maintain a certain distance from Mainland China. Now, while Tung may be a patriotic Chinese, he should not forget that trying to make Hong Kong look like the Mainland will just destroy Hong Kong. It will also defy, if not destroy, the principle of "One Country, Two Systems". 

To maintain Hong Kong's uniqueness, Tung must learn to tolerate confrontation, pluralism and the demand for democracy and the rule of law. It is on precisely these issues that Tung has misread his people's expectations and has disappointed them.

He may try his very best to delay democratization in Hong Kong, but he needs to avoid the perception that he is anti-democratic or, worse still, an anti-democratic icon. The fact that he hates attending Legislative Council sessions and that he does not keep promises to hold regular meetings with Democratic politicians creates a vivid image of a conservative who hates the concept of checks and balances.

With this old-fashioned, patriarchal image, Tung cannot convince the public that he both knows and understands people's expectations. And without that, how can he establish credibility among Hong Kong people?

As a stark contrast to Tung, Anson Chan, the Chief Secretary, appears to know Hong Kong people far better. She behaves accordingly, offering an up-to-date, modern attitude to the politics of government. Chan may not love the idea of democracy either, and she has never been regarded as an easy-going woman, but she has gained people's respect and trust that she will govern in a more forward-looking style.

Monitor expectations

Not only simply identifying expectations, Tung needs also to monitor those expectations. His promises to restrain rocketing property prices and to provide 85,000 flats per annum during his term was a classic trap: He lifted people's expectations before considering his ability to deliver.

We all know that Tung cannot deliver on those promises. His supporters claim that it is hard to monitor expectations and hard to avoid criticism during economic downturns. While that may be true to a degree, one still must ask: Has Tung tactfully monitored Hong Kong people's expectations? During economic hardship, people may blame the government, but they also will look for leadership. Has Tung established the perception that he can guide Hong Kong through troubled waters? Has Tung monitored expectations so that Hong Kong people will not point to or blame the government?

Compared with Financial Secretary Donald Tsang, for example, Tung has proved less skilful at monitoring expectations. In the two budgets after the onset of the region's financial troubles, Tsang managed the expectations of the broad mass of people and of the media very well.

In early 1998, he announced that he would not be a saviour, a Moses out of the Bible. As it turned out, though, he initiated various tax relief measures such as concessions on mortgage interest. In 1999, Tsang again urged Hong Kong people not to expect too much, creating fears of a huge deficit. In the end, though, while Hong Kong recorded a $30 billion overdraft, Tsang also announced the Cyberport and Disneyland projects, giving Hong Kong people new hope.

When negotiations with Walt Disney proved much slower than hoped, Tsang shrewdly cooled people's expectations. One notes that. since late April, Tsang and, for the most part, the Hong Kong government,have stopped talking about Disneyland. Tsang has never raised people's hopes on the subject again, in stark contrast to early March when he wore a Donald Duck bow-tie on television. This, then, suggests how monitoring people's expectations can make a difference. 

Responding to expectations is another aspect of image-building, and another area where Tung has not performed well. While Hong Kong people may not whole-heartedly support the Democratic Party, they regard it as a symbol for, and a leader of, a free and modern society. With that regard in mind, Tung should have let the public know that his disagreement with the Party is not personal; the disagreement is rather that he simply believes he has better ideas than Martin Lee.

The personality image

However, Tung allowed his recent late-August meeting with the Democrats to degenerate into a quarrel. People may recall that Premier Zhu Rongji, on his April visit to the United States, also encountered hostility. Zhu, however, handled it with humour and tact. If Zhu can do it, then, why can't Tung? His behaviour in the meeting with the Democratic Party left people with the impression that his feelings were personal, those of a parent who cannot and will not tolerate different opinions. 

Tung may love Hong Kong, and may resent Martin Lee for what he believes was Lee's tarnishing of Hong Kong's international image; but if he really wants to resolve this question, he ought to develop better policies for Hong Kong. He needs to offer better explanations about such thorny issues as not charging Sally Aw in the Hong Kong Standard case and his revival of appointed seats on district councils. All the PR skills in the world cannot help Hong Kong improve its image if people believe that Tung is reneging on promises, harming the rule of law and restricting democratic rights.

Finally, Tung should cultivate some exposure, some soft interviews, to build his image and help Hong Kong people understand his thinking. When launching a PR campaign, professionals will usually seek a soft or exclusive interview opportunity to allow their client to develop an appropriate image. Probably the most outstanding example of this was Li Ka Shing's Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) interview in the station's "Outstanding Chinese" series. Li emerged from the interview as a sincere, patriotic, warm and considerate man.

This kind of personal profile, if handled professionally, can create a superb public perception of a client. Tung's advisers should carefully screen and select a similar opportunity for their client.

Unfortunately, Tung's advisers allowed him to appear on Alan Tam's radio programme, where the host referred to the Chief Executive as "Brother Chee-hwa"(建華兄). Such arrangements lower the dignity of the Chief Executive, create a perception that Tung is avoiding serious discussion and, in this case, left a feeling that the entire affair was badly managed and unprofessional.

Imagine Li Ka Shing's RTHK interviewer addressing him as "Brother Ka-Shing"? At the least, the perception would be that the encounter is no more than a shoe-shining interview.

In short, to achieve a better image, Tung may need a paradigm shift. He may need to learn what constitutes a modern society. He needs to take Martin Lee seriously, and answer why, if the Democratic Party leader is so bad, more than 40 percent of the voters cast their ballots for his party. 

Like doing business in a market economy, if the public does not accept your ideas, something must be missing or wrong with those ideas. The customer is always right and the market is never wrong. The free market in politics is similar: If Hong Kong people do not welcome you, no matter how great or how innovative your policies, you will never win their support. Tung may not like confrontation or democracy, but it is a fact of life in Hong Kong and is part of the expectations and aspirations of its people. If Tung cannot understand and cannot accommodate people's expectations, how can he establish his credibility and his good image among them?

Mr. Wai-kwong Fung is the Vice-President of the Association of Hong Kong Public Relations Professionals.