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Jonathan Braude

LEGISLATIVE Councillor Mrs Elsie Tu is Hongkong's most widely admired personality.

  Streets ahead of the Governor Mr Chris Patten, actor Jackie Chan or popular pin-up Ronnie Yip Yuk-hing, the evergreen 79-year-old Mrs Tu polled 16 per cent in a specially commissioned South China Morning Post popularity poll of 513 adults.

  Mr Patten should look to his laurels after this surprise result.

  Not only has Britain's weightiest newspaper, the Financial Times, passed him over for Man of the Year in favour of Chinese patriarch Mr Deng Xiaoping, but Hongkong punters, too, prefer one of his elderly detractors.

  But if there is a New Year's message in the poll, it is neither that age comes before youth or that Mr Patten has misjudged the public mood with his controversial constitutional proposals.

  Also ahead of the Governor in the polls is Hongkong's richest man, tycoon Mr Li Ka-shing with 15.3 per cent - statistically speaking, a tie with Mrs Tu.

   Runners-up were radical independent Legislator Miss Emily Lau Wai-hing (12.1 per cent) and the man who always used to top the popularity stakes, United Democrats chairman Mr Martin Lee Chu-ming (11.3 per cent).

  Barely rating a mention ahead of Miss Yip at the bottom of the list, were Mr Patten's nemesis, the Director of the Hongkong and Macau Affairs Office, Mr Lu Ping, and the chairman of the anti-Patten Business and Professionals Federation, Mr Vincent Lo Hong-sui.

  Given the public battering he and his proposals have taken over the past few weeks, however, Mr Patten may well find the results heartening.

  Not only does he occupy a respectable fifth place in the admirability league with a solid 11.3 per cent, but he has managed not to scare the public away from politics.

  Given the choice between a vote for the 1995 Legislative Council, a gift of $100,000, an overseas passport or ownership of a property, more people would take the vote than the money.

  ''Undoubtedly, to have a home of one's own is what most people want,'' said pollster Mr Robert Chung Ting-yiu of Hongkong University Social Sciences Centre, commenting on the 56.7 per cent who plumped for the property option.

  Just 6.3 per cent wanted the cash, while eight per cent would opt for their democratic rights and another 14.2 per cent wanted the let-out of an overseas passport. Some 4.1 per cent were greedy enough to want all four options.

  ''Few chose $100,000 - maybe because it was too little. But what is interesting to know is that a vote for Legco appears to be worth more than $100,000 - good news for the political man,'' said Mr Chung.

  Mr Patten's clash with Beijing does not seem to have seriously dampened people's hopes for the future.

  More than half the respondents (52 per cent) believed their personal prospects for 1993 would be better than this year's, while 20 per cent rated them the same.

  Only 19.7 per cent thought their prospects would get worse, mostly older and less educated people.

 ''Is it because Hongkong cannot be worse than now?'' quipped Mr Chung.

  The underlying theme of this otherwise surprising poll, however, appears to be the supreme importance Hongkong people continue to place on long-term prosperity.

  As well as a hefty majority in favour of home-ownership, a solid 42 per cent plumped for a prosperous society ahead of a free, fair or welfare society.

  Similarly control of inflation was rated as the top priority for the Year of the Rooster by 40 per cent, far ahead of education, medical services or public transport.

  And in a snub to Hongkong's greenies, only 4.3 per cent saw the environment as a top priority for 1993.

  These results also appeared to be in line with the high admiration score achieved by the boss of Cheung Kong and Hutchison Whampoa.

  Mr Li Ka-shing scored a hit with middle class men with secondary education. Mrs Tu was top of the pops with working class women, who still appear to regard her as the voice of the community.

  Queen's Counsel Mr Martin Lee, however, scored best with those with the highest educational attainments.

  Mrs Tu is out of town and could not be contacted last night for comment on her new-found image as the territory's new pin-up girl.



Elsie Tu tops popularity poll