Tung stayed seven years despite roller-coaster rule

HONG KONG: Tung Chee-hwa has been ridiculed, accused of incompetence and nicknamed “Old Dumb Tung'' during his turbulent seven years of leading Hong Kong. 

However, he might be admired for at least one thing: sticking with a job that many would have limped away from long ago. 

The portly 67-year-old shipping magnate with a grey crew cut had no political experience when he became Hong Kong's first leader after the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. 

MAN OF THE HOUR: Tung chatting with Xiao Yang, president of China's Supreme Peoples' Court during the opening ceremony of the Chinese Peoples' Political Consultative Conference in Beijing.--APpic

It is widely believed that Tung got the job because China's Communist leaders thought he would obediently carry out their edicts.  

Many thought he was beholden to Beijing because China-backed companies saved his family shipping business from collapse in the 1980s. 

Tung got off to a bad start – or perhaps it was an unlucky beginning.  

Shortly after taking office, normally booming Hong Kong was plunged into recession during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which crippled many other prosperous economies in the region. 

The financial crisis wasn't Tung's fault but many complained that his response was flat-footed and indecisive. 

Tung distrusted the media and almost never gave interviews that might have helped him appear more human and worthy of sympathy.  

His frequent public gaffes made him the butt of many jokes and earned him the nickname “Old Dumb Tung''. 

Another test for Tung came in 2003 when nearly 300 people here died in the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS. 

Again, Tung's government was accused of a sloppy, sluggish response.  

He became even more unpopular later in July 2003 when he pushed for an anti-subversion bill that many believed threatened civil liberties. The legislation was eventually scuttled.– AP