KAPOK: Green With Envy?

Whatever the time and context, every novel technology soon gets to be seen has having both advantages and downsides. Such is the case for the Internet and the development of what is termed “web 2.0”, that is user-centered usage of the World Wide Web for which the imperative to share, interact and collaborate is of utmost importance. This web 2.0 together with the spread of mobile communication has helped empowered citizens all around the world and renewed the channels of mediation between society and government. Citizen vigilance and journalism have acquired new meanings, and one cannot imagine a piece of online writing today that would not allow for readers to comment, add or amend.


Unfortunately, online communication has also given rise to unsavory practices, allowing for hoaxes, rumors and plain lies to propagate virally, often causing great harm beyond salvation in just a few clicks. And these faults have taken a whole new dimension because of the value our modern society bequests to the expression of emotions — a somewhat frenetic “I Like syndrome”. I do not believe that a heavy-handed state intervention to tame these flaws is an appropriate answer: very often, the fight against rumors is a pretext for stark censorship, just as sina weibo and tencent weibo have been reminded of lately. And yet, it seems obvious that some form of regulation has to occur. Better still, self-regulation of the stakeholders (providers, forum mediators, NGOs, politicians, political parties, companies, etc.) triggered early on and with determination.
Every year for the past three years, I have been asking my undergraduates studying state-society relations to pick up a topic of public interest and to build up an online “advocacy group” on which they report their efforts to engage with government agencies, NGOs, companies, politicians and loosely defined “opinion shapers” in order to better describe, assess and hopefully solve pressing issues of public concern. Every year a group of students choose the “Challenges to the Public Buses System”, and up to this year the Youtube videos, CyberCTM/Qoos postings and Facebook pages denouncing the traffic congestion, the rudeness of drivers, the rough driving leading to minor injuries (bruises because of sudden breaks, etc.), the timetable delays, the route detours, the missed stops, etc., were not only already numerous but of course exclusively “crediting” Transmac and TCM for the shortcomings. This year around, everything has changed, and the sole culprit seems to be the new comer: Reolian.
The anti-Reolian campaign started long before the tragic accident of March 5th in which an 82 year-old lady lost a leg after being hit by a Reolian bus — conducted by a former Transmac driver. One of the most virulent Facebook pages that documents all the incidents encountered by the company, entitled “Say No to Reolian” (its motto in Chinese being “We ask the Macao government to punish Reolian!”) and endorsed by 2,092 “Like”, was created on August 15th 2011, only two weeks after Reolian started operating. Since then, Reolian has become somehow a scapegoat for the lack of proper, reliable and transparent assessment and reporting regarding the sorry state of public transportation in Macao — despite its brand new four-wheelers and the continuous training it provides its drivers. The historical bus companies and the DSAT have somehow benefitted from a situation that unexpectedly shelters them from their past responsibility. If figures about the causes of minor and major accidents were to be disclosed for the three companies, what would the picture look like?
Reolian must have some faults — official enquiries will tell — and is for sure guilty of naivety and misshaped communication, but who profits from the online slandering? And why are legislators of all hues, neighborhood association and democrats alike, trumpeting populist undertones when an appeal for calm seem to be the imperative of the moment? Again, emotion wins against reason…


Published in Macau Daily Times on April 13. To read more, visit http://www.macaudailytimes.com.mo/opinion/35163-KAPOK-Green-With-Envy.html