The latest gauge of public opinion about the performance of Legislative Council (LegCo) members over the past three months show 51 percent of local residents are unhappy with the performance of lawmakers. Only 10 percent said they were satisfied, according to a survey published by the Public Opinion Programme of the University of Hong Kong.

The figures represent a new low for politicians since the polling program began in 1998. The record-low popularity of LegCo members indicates that local residents' disapproval of their lawmakers has risen sharply. One of the reasons is that some lawmakers' animosity toward the executive branch has intensified. Several policies concerning the livelihoods of ordinary people have been deliberately obstructed. Another reason is that a few lawmakers' highly public participation in mob politics has become more frequent and outrageous. The public is pushed ever closer to the limits of tolerance of such unjustifiable behavior.

Obviously the relationship between the legislative and executive branches of the SAR government should not be a we-live-you-die situation, and the LegCo will have to bear the blame as much as the government when certain economic measures become stalled because some legislators find it necessary to block them to suit their own ends. Lawmakers should hold the people's interest above their own, do their jobs without political prejudice and improve the mood of legislative processes. Only by doing so can they expect their popularity to rise again.

The LegCo building is the venue for policy discussions and making laws. All LegCo members are obliged to protect the dignity of the legislative body. Unfortunately its reputation has been victimized by certain lawmakers' increasing abuse of power in the form of mob politics in recent years. The public has been greatly disappointed with the legislature because of blatant displays of arrogance and public vulgarity by a few self-absorbed lawmakers. The LegCo must stop tolerating such behavior or suffer the consequences together.

This is a translation excerpted from a Wen Wei Po editorial published on July 13

(HK Edition 07/14/2011 page3)