Kapok: Five is five, not three

The yearly plenary sessions of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) — the “two meetings” 兩會 as colloquially referred to in Chinese — concluded just a week ago and with them we are set for new priorities in the coming year and the next five years, with the 13th five-year plan starting this year.
The general directions had been already introduced last year — even with a campy song about them — and the five — again — tenets of the plan had been delineated in order to achieve ‘medium-high’ GDP growth, now set at 6.5 percent for 2016. First, “innovation” is seen as the key driver of economic development in order to upscale China’s economic structure into a higher-quality growth pattern. Then “openness” is considered of utmost importance for China to become a major responsible stakeholder in world affairs, both politically and economically. Then, “green” development and the necessity to “balance” the economy in order to ensure greater evenness among rural and urban areas, and across different industries, are the two pillars of what would be called in Europe “sustainable development”. Finally, “inclusiveness” — understand social justice — is a full part of that developmental horizon.
Wrapping up the conclusions of the two meetings, Chief Executive Chui Sai On outlined five — again — paths for Macao to transform and “consolidate its unique position”.
First, Mr Chui insisted on the need to comply with the country’s constitution and the Basic Law. Honestly speaking, I am really starting to wonder what is meant by this oft-repeated mantra. Is it not already the case? And if not, in what regard is it not respected? We heard recently about concerns pertaining to the judicial system and possible issues with justice independence: could that be it? Or is it related to the fact that a union law has yet to be passed and is systemically rescheduled by navel-gazing businessmen-turned-legislators who now claim that possible “strikes” could impair even more our dwindling casino revenues? Or possibly, the fact that now some NPC members representing Macao are asking for the NPC to step up efforts on reviewing laws passed in Macao? From my own little understanding, when Mr Io Hong Meng, a Macao NPC delegate backed by the Kaifong, insists that “instead of just keeping the laws for records, the NPC Standing Committee should also […] start reviewing the laws enacted under Macau’s legislature”, I am not sure this is not in complete contradiction with the letter and spirit of the Basic Law. And does Mr Ho Iat Seng, the only NPC Standing committee member for Macao and the president of the Legislative Assembly, concur?
Then Mr Chui mainly stressed the economic aspects of the message, and especially the imperative to coordinate the city’s Five-Year Development Plan with the major policy direction of China and the pressing need to transform Macao into a world centre of tourism and leisure, and a cooperation platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries. Society was not forgotten: the social development of young people is to be supported and social welfare improved. And finally, all this could be achieved thanks to a more “effective” mode of governance, based on speedier administrative reform, additional thoroughness in anti-corruption efforts, as well as greater cooperation among administrative units. Clearly, transparency and accountability are not part of Mr Chui’s vocabulary.
Somehow, the “innovation”, “openness” and “balance” imperatives are there. The diversification of Macao’s mono-industry; the expansion to Hengqin and now the resurrection of the Pan-­Pearl River Delta 2003 vision; the realization that Macao has a unique role to play in connecting the Portuguese-speaking world with China; the expansion over 85 square kilometers of coastal waters as recently demarcated and possible development of a maritime economy; the stepping-up of quality education and the nurturing of local talents; the promotion of SMEs; etc.
What about “the inclusiveness” and the “greening”? What about developing real mean-tested social policies rather than oversized entitlements for residents? What about sanctuarizing Coloane, despite the petty interest of one CPPCC delegate? Five is five, not three.

Published in Macau Daily Times, March 25 2016

UnionPay crackdown, again…

Love that remark by Sanford C. Bernstein: '“As such, if pawnshop transactions were to be completely eliminated, industry EBITDA could be negatively impacted by 9 to16 per cent. Although we see this as a worst case scenario”. So basically, dubious transactions through UnionPay are being targeted and we should worry? The real worry is that it is still going on in the open and that analysts lament about it as if it was a legit and acceptable factor! As it was put in a SCMP article back in December, we are talking about a "multi-billion-dollar racket", one used to circumvent China's strict currency controls and encourage illegal forms of credit! But this is already old wine in a not so new bottle...

Kapok: the malediction of the second term

To paraphrase Scott Chiang, the president of the New Macau Association (NMA), talking to the press after the rather suspicious circumstances of the “suicide by asphyxiation” of the head of customs, Mandy Lai Man Wa, in late October last year: “you would be hard-pressed to find anyone in Macao who actually believes in the version of the government”. Except this time, it has nothing to do with Mrs Lai, but the less dramatic and yet possibly equally traumatizing arrest on February 27 of former prosecutor-general Ho Chio Meng on charges of fraud, abuse of power and document forgery.
The authentic feeling of disbelief is not really that the man who was the executive’s embodiment of the law for fifteen years could be corrupt and had abused his power to skim some 2,000 public contracts with the complicity of some of his staff and indelicate profit-prone local businessmen – only buffoons on TV get excited by the numbers. But rather that the government would be so intent on stressing that Mr Ho’s misdemeanor was unconnected with his expedition of justice, and thus the fulfillment of his duties was untainted.
The issues connected to procurement in Macao, that Sonia Chan, the secretary for administration and justice, is willing to tackle and legally resolve “within a year” – this yearly horizon being the new fad – should easily gather consensus, although independent legislator José Pereira Coutinho, who also heads the biggest would-be civil service union, ATFPM, already pointed out that the discretionary awarding of public contracts from the top was the norm rather than the exception in Macao; thus the Ho “case” was “just the tip of the iceberg”. This is another way of saying that the fish rots from the head down…
At the very distant end of the political spectrum, there seems to be another consensus that “there is more to it”. Jorge Neto Valente, the rather pro-establishment president of the Macao Lawyers Association, could not help emphasizing that the whole affair was casting doubts on the entire judicial system, especially because there had been persistent rumors of “influence peddling” – about whom to prosecute and when – within the public ministry when Ho was in charge. For Mr Valente, the corruption charges regarding procurement almost seem secondary. Then, far away from Mr Valente – politically speaking of course! – Scott Chiang and Jason Chao, the vice-president of NMA, voiced their skepticism that Ho’s judicial responsibilities had been entirely shaded from his alleged misconduct for personal enrichment. Their question is simple: why break the law for a poorly remunerated paint job when you can break it for high return power meddling? He that will steal a pin will break a pound…
This “controversy” is now gathering additional momentum. Prominent lawyers and even a legal advisor of the Legislative Assembly started looking at the affair from a broader perspective. If we leave aside infatuated comments of one lawyer annoyed at a system that now prevents the boundless hiring of cheap and competent labor from Portugal for law firms, most of the remarks that were made (and hopefully will continue to be) deserve our whole attention. First of all because they concern the rule of law in Macao and the upholding of a “second system” that rests on clearly defined norms, due respect for processes and infused consideration for both the letter and the spirit of the law and the protection of individual rights. Second because they raise a core question related to the “independence” of our justice: the very fact that again Mr Ho will be denied his right to appeal – just like the case of Ao Man Long – is more than problematic: it is in contradiction with the Basic Law.
Lack of resolve in tackling this issue will be a litmus test of what is to become of the “one country, two systems” formula in Macao. Let it not become a malediction of the second term of the Chief Executive.

Published in Macau Daily Times, March 11 2016

A sense of duty

These two pictures were published yesterday to illustrate the soon to be inaugurated CPPCC & NPC annual general meeting. One was published by the Macau Daily News (澳門日報) and the other one by the South China Morning Post. One is clearly captioned as having been taken on Wednesday. The other one has no date. On one side of the PRD, the sky in Beijing is always blue. On the other side, the sky in Beijing can be affected by smog, and thus measures need to be taken. The fight against pollution is actually quite extensively covered in the draft of the 13th Five-Year-Plan soon to be adopted. Talking about issues help; always hiding the truth is not only stupid, it should be branded as an offense...