Hong Kong celebrates the establishment of the SAR on July 1 each year and every year there is a rally for the people to express their views and to make their demands known. The current administration, undoubtedly, is facing a tough time managing the city.

The focus of the rally, however, is not on what people are demanding, but on how many people turn up. The organizers said 430,000 people took part this time, but the police said there were only 66,000, while academics put the figure at around 100,000. As in previous years, various parties haggled over the method of counting the number of rally participants. The organizers claimed that the police undercounted the number of participants with a political objective in mind. The conventional wisdom is to average out the numbers given by the participants and the police. Nevertheless, disagreement over the number of people taking part is not the point. It's not the number of participants that matters. It's the idea behind the rally that counts.

Many people see the number of participants as a sign of discontent with the government. This may be correct. It is common belief that if the number of participants is high, it shows discontent is high. But, we have to be careful with what the discontent is all about. If we just simply equate the number of participants with one single policy of the government, it over simplifies the whole issue. When we look at the issues raised at the rally, we find that the voice is not with only one objective. Very often, there are multiple objectives. Some people may be not happy with the political system, some may be with the Chief Executive, some may not be happy with the development of land, some may not be happy with environmental policies and so on. Indeed, their appeals or demands vary a lot. If we just equate the number of participants to one single appeal, we are only targeting the tree and missing the whole forest.

It does not mean that we need not care about the rally. Indeed, we should take a closer look at it. Although we cannot deal with all the participants by taking up just one demand, all the demands add up to one single outcome. The outcome is to show the government how unhappy society is. The sources of discontent originate from many sources, and if such discontent is not managed well, it will further hurt the administration's governance.

The government, undoubtedly, is having problems with initiating policies. The support from the Legislative Council is weak and uncertain. The government needs to lobby and garner greater support from lawmakers whenever a bill or policy needs to get through. After the rally, it makes the lawmakers even more reluctant to cooperate with the government. Legislators need to face the general public and they need support from the voters.

Various political parties simply hope to use the rally to achieve their aims. But my view is that it makes no difference whether the number of rally participants is 430,000, 230,000 or 100,000. The government, instead, should deal with any display of discontent seriously. It should assess what needs to be done and get the priorities straight.

The author is dean of the School of Business at Hang Seng Management College.

(HK Edition 07/04/2013 page9)