Here we go – September 15 is the date for the next legislative elections. As reported by newspapers, the campaign has already started. Legislators are becoming extremely visible and outspoken, asking for all sorts of ever-more-pressing laws to be pushed through before the end of the legislative term and complaining about the slow and/or inadequate responses by the government regarding their queries and objections. Even those who are not directly elected and who did not face any competition last time around (in 2009 there was only one list of candidates, who filled the exact number of seats in each of the four functional constituencies, hence my being reluctant to call that an election for the so-called “indirectly elected” legislators) have been vocal about their commitment to the job, positioning themselves as champions of the have-nots and defenders of the spoiled majority. One of them, a seasoned pro-government businessman, even expressed bold critiques of a real-estate developer for being too eager to brandish the Basic Law and the protection of private property to defend his right to disfigure our “green lung” and vandalize our heritage in Seac Pai Van. It is quite a balancing act to secure the rights enshrined in the mini-constitution and yet make sure these rights are consistent with the original intent of protecting the community.
Concerned citizens have been on the move too. In the very same week, two associations, the Tri-Decade Action and Macau Conscience, have respectively petitioned the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) and the newly formed Legislative Elections Affairs Commission to ask for “cleaner” elections. They have vehemently requested these reputable institutions come up with clearer guidelines as to what constitutes vote buying, and more generally speaking electoral malpractices, and of course toughen their act pertaining to these debilitating diseases of our underdeveloped democracy. This is of course of extreme importance, and yet I have serious doubts that this will be conducive to any significant change. First of all, because the CCAC was allegedly given the power to investigate vote-buying starting with the 2001 elections precisely because the 1996 had translated into, according to the official statement, “[a] huge public concern surrounding rumors of bribery and misconduct.” By any account, the 1996 elections, with the handover in perspective, were by far the most dubious to occur in our territory. Some, far too easily, put the blame on the outgoing Portuguese colonial administration. Certainly, fighting electoral corruption might not have had top priority back in 1996, but if one looks at the composition of the legislature that was then sworn in, one might be surprised to discover that some of the legislators exposed at the time are still legislators today — directly or by proxy — and for those who are not anymore, still constitute what we could describe as the highly respectable establishment of our community. There was continuity, after somewhat of an improvement for the 2001 and 2005 elections, when corruption kicked back very hard in 2009, despite the fact that the Electoral Affairs Commission had made the fight against such inadmissible practices its top priority. At the time, that led me to characterize the commission as “the biggest loser of the elections”. Today, one can see giant posters of elected members of the Assembly already in full campaign gear pinned on the façade of our central districts, despite the fact that it is illegal according to the electoral law. What is the Electoral Affairs Commission doing about it?
Once more, what would really help eradicate corruption is to be found in “meaning”: if elections were truly competitive and gave the chance for political platforms to contend, and if the legislature really mattered and was a tangible check on the executive branch, then the voters, the citizens, might be tempted to make their vote count. But then, if there is no meaning, why not take the cash, enjoy the dinner, go to a concert or benefit from a bit of extra money when Chinese New Year comes?
