Kapok: The age of submission

It is unsurprising that the proposal of a law reviewing the Electoral Law of the Legislative Assembly, put forward by the government in that very same Assembly and approved in first reading on August 9 by all legislators but four — the ones we can easily brand our own pan-democrats: Ng Kuok Cheong, Au Kam San, José Pereira Coutinho and Leong Veng Chai — is limited in scope and falls short of the ambition that our less than two-year-old government was supposed to entertain in all matters of governance. Should we be surprised?
Admittedly back in December 2014, serious doubts were raised regarding the capacity of the new secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan, to carry both a far-reaching reform of the administrative (aka political) system and a much-needed revamping of the judicial institutions — recent outspoken complaints coming from traditionally soft-spoken quarters of society, lawyers and legal advisers leading the charge, aptly testify to that sorry state of judicial affairs.
The main merits of Sonia Chan appear to be that she is untainted — with the indictment of the former Prosecutor General, this is proving precious — and a keen supporter of the Chief Executive (CE). Her previous position at the Office for Personal Data Protection had allowed her to shine as the gravedigger of an inoffensive but embarrassing so-called “civic referendum” targeting Chui’s undisputed re-election in August 2014.
Nevertheless, even though she is only acting on behalf of the vision of the CE, she is supposed to prove herself, just like Alexis Tam and Raimundo do Rosário are trying to do. But then, healthcare, education, traffic management and lodging are top priorities, and the mandate given to her colleagues is loud and clear. On her side, we are in total denial: the system is sound and thus going beyond the reform of 2012 and the ridiculously muted “+2+2+100” formula is out of the question. Electoral democracy in Macao is a matter of technicalities: due processes for the registration of voters and candidates as well as financial aspects and length of the campaign are the only issues that matter. Representativeness: who cares? Quality of the debate: what’s the point? Actual and proven capacity of the ones who represent us all: to what end?
During the public consultation organized in May in preparation of the law proposal, and despite organizational biases favoring traditional and pro-government sectors of the society, persistent voices stressing key (substantial) issues were heard: in a TDM report, a lady was quoted as saying “the issue of insufficient directly-elected lawmakers has always bothered most of us residents” and another resident wondered “aren’t elections all about [justness] and fairness?”, thus “very [reasonably]” asking for “more directly-elected lawmakers” and “[cutting] down on the number of appointed lawmakers”.
To be fair, and in comparison to Hong Kong, the number of elected lawmakers is not that inadequate. In Hong Kong, as of today, we have 3,779,085 registered voters, and 35 (out of 70) legislators are returned through universal suffrage. Overall, that’s one directly elected legislator for 108,000 voters. In Macao, as of December 2015, we have 285,999 registered voters, for a total of 14 directly elected seats (out of 33 in total), so in effect one directly elected deputy for 20,500 voters. So why is the system perceived as unfair?
Having ALL indirectly elected lawmakers (whereas they are the exceptions in Hong Kong) voted in unopposed does not build trust. Having no law regarding political parties, no properly designed constituencies, a flawed electoral system dispersing the votes and an unjustifiable number of CE-appointed legislators do no help either. And then, introducing the review of the law a few months before the elections proper and dismissing any challenge to representativeness as one potentially threatening “stability” in Macao speak volumes about the lack of ambition of Chui: no wonder that the conclusions of the public consultation reports state that for any matter pertaining to the designation of legislators, the decision power rests exclusively with the central government. Submission it is then…

Kapok: To hoist or not to hoist?

In this part of the world, and especially at that time of the year, the right meteorological prediction can often be a matter of life and death: our subtropical climate endowed with a humid monsoon regime is characterized by a Typhoon-prone wet season in Summer, and tropical cyclones are not only fortuitous happenings — although they can provide the like of Joseph Conrad with great fictional inspiration — but regular manifestations of the (still) indomitable essence of Mother Nature.
The deadliest typhoons killed in the thousands, and memories of super-Typhoons do not date back exclusively to the nineteenth century: in 2013, Haiyan left a trail of some 6,300 dead people in its path, mainly in the Visayas in the Philippines, and some put the unofficial death toll well above 10,000. Many reasons can help explain such a dreadful outcome: the path of the tropical cyclone itself (a direct hit is always the worst), the quality of the constructions (more shoddy means more risky), the zoning of lands defined as proper for construction (floodable areas or landslide paths provide additional danger) and of course the extent of preventive measures, mostly determined by proper meteorological assessment.
Macao has a long history when it comes to early warnings in relation to tropical cyclones. Any visit to the Guia Lighthouse, now part of UNESCO world heritage, constitutes a clear reminder that the oldest modern lighthouse of the China coast (completed in 1865) was (and still is somehow) not only a precious guide for sailors returning to safety harbor but also the point of reference for Typhoon signals — made of black-painted metal — to be literally “hoisted” beside the proud white tower situated on top of Guia ill.
The current controversy regarding the non-issuance of the tropical cyclone No. 8 signal as Nida was making its way towards our shores on August 2nd — whereas not only Hong Kong, but also Shenzhen and Zhuhai had issued such a warning — is thus causing a particular worry in our SAR: how come, such a long and well-established level of competence regarding a system of severe weather condition advanced notices could have gone so much astray? Is it a scientific mistake — despite the director of the Weather Bureau (SMG) claiming to the contrary and that everything was done by the book? Is it a blunder — the decision-making process within the SMG proving dysfunctional? Is it the result of outside pressure and thus influence peddling — fingers are being pointed towards the gaming industry? Is it a public relation disaster — the overconfidence of the scientific bureaucrat proving extremely detrimental, as usual? Is it a mix of all these and then what would it take to make things better? José Pereira Coutinho is asking for the head of Mr Fong and some other legislators for an independent inquiry: would that be a start, or the end of the measures to be swiftly adopted?

What is true is that for years Mr Fong and his chief subaltern, deputy director Leong Ka Cheng, had been under the authority of, first, the most corrupt officials of Macao, up to 2006, and then under one of the most incompetent, by some records, up to 2014. No wonder that bad habits — some revealed by a long and detailed article published by “Macau Concealers” — were taken: a sense of complete impunity by the top management, despite the many administrative enquiries, and the ever worsening mismanagement of human resources inside the bureau characterized by extreme forms of favoritism. Some of the shortcomings of the SMG had already started to show in April this year when the bureau was forced to apologize to the public regarding several blunders concerning mishaps related to rainstorm warnings untimely publicized.
Beyond the potential enquiry and the individual culprits that might be found in the end, and beyond the ever apologizing sense of duty displayed by Secretary Raimundo do Rosário, what will need to be restored is the trust within these public departments: only then can the link with the public prove healthy. Competent people need to be rewarded, not the contrary!

Published in Macau Daily Times on August 5th 2016