He also reassured legislators and the public that the controversial Article 23 anti-subversion law legislation, which triggered the first march of 500,000 angry protesters in 2003, will not be re-launched in the next two years.

During Monday's Legco question-and-answer session, Frontier legislator Emily Lau disagreed with Tsang's view that the public is now more concerned with livelihood and economic issues than democracy, even though a government poll taken in late-April found that the introduction of universal suffrage was the 13th most pressing issue among the public.

``Are you saying that 500,000 protesters have already changed their stance and no longer demand universal suffrage?'' she asked.

Tsang responded that the July 1 demonstration in 2003 was caused by public discontent over the economic downturn, a property slump, the SARS outbreak, governance and the introduction of Beijing-driven Article 23 anti-subversion legislation.

Comparatively, he said, the situation has improved a lot this year.

``I feel that public sentiment has been soothed this year, but it will be their freedom if they still want to take to the streets on July 1,'' he said.

``I'm not saying they are changing their stance. And, actually, I am sure most people know what they are doing.''

Tsang believed the central government had already taken heed of the democratic aspirations of Hong Kong people and he pledged to continue relaying those views to Beijing.

Meanwhile, barrister and lawmaker Audrey Eu asked Tsang to explain the imperfections or loopholes he mentioned concerning the proposed Article 23 law that the government withdrew in 2003.

Eu was referring to a comment by Tsang when he campaigned for Election Committee members earlier this month.

Tsang did not directly respond to Eu, but he promised that the Article 23 bill will not be re-tabled before his two-year tenure ends in 2007. ``I don't want to repeat the issue anymore as everybody knows its history very well. Many people said there were some inadequacies in the proposed law, as did Audrey herself,'' Tsang said. ``I don't want to obsess about this issue any more. Actually, unless there are some special reasons, I have no plans to work on this topic in next two years.''

Tsang said his promise not to relaunch thebill for two years was essentially a guarantee to the public.

After 500,000 people marched on the SAR's 6th anniversary on July 1, 2003, then-chief executive Tung Chee-hwa offered three concessions in his Article 23 draft bill on July 5, four days after the demonstration.

They included deleting provisions granting the government the power to ban local affiliates of groups outlawed on the mainland for allegedly threatening national security, and the proposed granting of police powers to enter and search properties without court warrants.

But Tung's attempt failed to win public support and, instead, he was forced to withdraw the bill on July 7.