A timely reminder: "No matter how good my officials and I believe a certain policy is, we should not, and cannot, ask the public to accept it as a matter of course," Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa tells reporters.

Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa vowed to keep in touch with citizens, "to listen to their voices directly". "The public has reminded me that I should adopt a modest, open and sincere attitude in order to win their trust and support," he added.

Speaking at a press briefing today in the wake of resignations of his security and financial secretaries, Mr Tung said that he "was glued to the television on July 1 and greatly shocked by the mass procession. I was sleepless that night."

But he later said that the march had been "a timely reminder for me. No matter how good my officials and I believe a certain policy is, we should not, and cannot, ask the public to accept it as a matter of course."

He said Hong Kong citizens had expressed dissatisfaction and criticisms of his governance and that of his Administration over the past six years.

"My colleagues and I accept these criticisms sincerely. We are seriously reviewing and looking at all these events with a view to learn from our experience. We are also actively preparing in time to respond to their aspirations and their concerns."

He will now meet with political parties, major sectors of the community and the media and opinion leaders regularly. All policy bureaux have been directed to actively strive to open channels of discussion on political issues, and to engage professional and committed persons in various advisory and statutory committees and organisations.

"Through these institutionalised and effective channels, they will be able to make positive contributions to Government policies and to our governance," Mr Tung said.

He reiterated that the Government has a duty to implement Article 23 of the Basic Law. "But everybody can see that although the consultative and legislative process has been underway for nearly a year, many of our citizens still do not understand its content."

Security bill consultation to be more extensive than first one

The Government has decided to put forward the Bill to the whole community for consultation again. "Based on the foundation of the legislative work done already, this consultation exercise will be even more extensive than the previous one," Mr Tung said.

The Government will compile a full text of the Bill incorporating all the amendments proposed by the Government and discuss it with Legislative Council Members at the Bills Committee. It will also reopen its dialogue with the public, to listen to their views.

"Let me emphasise that the purpose of this round of consultation is to win the maximum understanding and support of the community as a whole for the legislation. The schedule of the entire legislative procedure as we move forward will depend very much on how the consultation goes."

On the economic front, the Chief Executive said the Government is taking advantage of new opportunities brought about by the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangment with the Mainalnd, and Hong Kong's enhanced co-operation with Guangdong Province.

On his duty visit to Beijing on Saturday, Mr Tung said he would ask the Central Government to speed up the schedule for implementing various arrangements under CEPA - and hopes to expand its scope, also.

Boosting property market paramount

The economy is recovering now that the SARS outbreak is behind us, he added. "We must do everything to keep the momentum going. We must also recognise the importance of the property market to economic revival. Hence, one of our paramount tasks is to continue to adopt whatever positive measures there are to help the property market."

While he admitted he could not address all of the public's concerns and aspirations today, he vowed to continue to do so in the days and weeks to come.

"Through concrete measures, we will formulate policies from the standpoint of the people. Our response to the aspirations of the public will honour our promise to reflect properly the concerns and expectations of our people."

He added that measures will also be conducive to safeguarding the stable and long-lasting relationship between Hong Kong and the Mainland within the framework of "One Country, Two Systems".

Duty visit planned weeks earlier

Mr Tung said that he had planned his Saturday visit to Beijing after watching the march on July 1. Not only did he need to respond to the aspirations of the people, he also has a duty as chief executive to make a report to the Central Government.

"I also need time to reflect in details on the aspirations of the citizens and the preparation of the responses. You can see from my statement today, our handling of the Article 23 issue, personnel arrangements and the Beijing duty visit that we have responded to the people's aspirations with concrete actions in a positive way and in an orderly way."

No plans to step down

In response to reporters' questions, Mr Tung said no other principal officials had tendered their resignations. He admitted it would not be easy to replace the Secretary for Security and the Financial Secretary, but that he had "some names in mind".  The two would be replaced as soon as possible, he added.

He also noted that Dr Yeoh Eng-kiong, the Secretary for Health, Welfare & Food, would no longer be chairing the SARS Expert Group tasked with reviewing Hong Kong's handling of the outbreak. He would be an ordinary member of the group.

He described the two sub-groups as "independent, serious, professional - not personal". When they submit their reports to him in September, the Administration will decide if a further review is necessary.

Replying to another question, Mr Tung said he had never considered resigning himself. Although it would be easy to step down and remove himself from the spotlight, he said, he believes such a move would be irresponsible in these difficult times.

While he acknowledges that he is not doing well at the moment and that people are unhappy with his performance, he will try to improve and contribute to the stability of Hong Kong.