The newly-elected chief of the Democratic Alliance for Betterment of Hong Kong (DAB) last night pledged to be in tune with the views of Hong Kong people.

Ma Lik, former secretary-general of the party, was unanimously elected chairman by the party's 15-member standing committee.

He replaces founding chairman Tsang Yok-sing, who stepped down last week to take responsibility for the party's landslide defeat in the November 23 district council elections.

"The DAB is facing a very difficult time," Ma admitted while meeting the press along with other core party members.

But he promised to learn from the setbacks, reflect seriously on the party's stance in public policies, and "stay close with the views of Hong Kong people".

"We will consider adjusting our policy objectives and the relationship with the government, tune ourselves to the voices of the people and take part in the constitutional review," he said.

"We'll support government policies only when they're reasonable. We'll criticize those that are not good for the people," he added.

He declined to answer if he would be a member of the Executive Council like his predecessor, saying he would need to discuss this with party members.

He also avoided commenting on the central government's role in the selection of the chief executive after 2007.

But he said it would be a win-win situation if Beijing has a chance to hear the opinions of Hong Kong people at the early stages of the constitutional development review.

Ma was a founding member of the DAB in 1992 and became secretary-general in 1997.

His most notable public-service positions include being deputy secretary-general of the now-defunct Basic Law Consultative Committee from 1985-90 and a deputy to the National People's Congress since 1998.

(China Daily HK Edition December 10, 2003)