Incompetent politicans in Hong Kong

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUST27249320071013
"HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's leader, Donald Tsang, apologized on Saturday for saying that extreme moves towards full democracy in the city could result in chaos on the scale seen in China during the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution."

Slightly old news but citing the totalitarian induced chaos of the Cultural Revolution as a reason not to implement democracy? What kind of fucked up chiseen idea is that? I never understood why this pook guy enjoys such high popularity ratings. It seems popularity ratings here are purely based on the Heng Seng index more than anything, regardless whether the politicians sucks up to the Brits or the CCP.