Kapok: (No) sense and sensibility

The serialized “Sulu case”, full of twists and turns ever since the New Macau Association figurehead was rightfully elected via universal suffrage to the Legislative Assembly as the youngest ever legislator in Macao, just reached a new high when it comes to its most farcical — and yet saddening — dimensions.

Not only is Sulu Sou prosecuted for throwing paper planes in the empty garden of a purely ceremonial colonial villa and walking in the middle of a trafficless street — dura lex, sed lex; not only has he been suspended from his seat for such devious and criminal acts by his own peers in a highly controversial expedited process; moreover, he has to bear with a level of vicious absurdity rarely observed in our community since 1999!

And unfortunately, the ones who tarnish the very ideas of respect, responsibility and accountability in politics are to be found at the highest echelon of the administration! At the helm of the Assembly for sure — if Ho Iat Seng was ever considered as a possible replacement for Mr Chui, he should by now be disqualified — but also, indirectly, at the very top of the executive branch of power — who are Vong Hin Fai and Kou Hoi In taking their instructions from? After the deadly Hato disaster, the very least one could have expected is some kind of self-restraint and deference for the wishes of the majority.

By sponsoring a resolution project aiming at excluding the right to appeal of Sulu Sou before a court of law regarding claimed irregularities affecting the process that led to his suspension as lawmaker, Vong Hin Fai is not only sapping fundamental tenets of the separation of powers enshrined in the Basic Law, he is also using the law for vengeful private interests to cover his possible shortcomings while acting as secretary of the Committee of Rules and Mandates that ultimately defaulted on its obligation to make a recommendation regarding Mr Sou’s case.

The farcical move was immediately denounced by several prominent lawyers and former legislators, including the president of the Macao Lawyers’ Association, but all this seems even more dismaying when considering that Mr Vong is himself a lawyer, and that he was up to 2013 an appointed legislator as well as the candidacy representative of Chui Sai On both in 2009 and 2014. How can one not suspect some form of collusion of interests? And if so, how can this not be construed as an additional proof of downright disrespect for the independence of justice coming not only from a subservient legislature but also from the executive itself?

The same line of thinking goes for Mr Ho Iat Seng: how come the President of the Assembly would accept such a resolution without a doubt and why on earth would he decide to put it on the legislature’s agenda for voting within a week time? Lawmaker José Pereira Coutinho has already flagged this unusual haste in slating the resolution, especially when compared to akin motions sponsored by pan-democrats, but there again the issue goes beyond a not so “gentleman agreement”: Mr Ho is also a member of the standing committee of China’s National People’s Congress, and by blindly siding with Vong, he is actually staining the very idea of a “high degree of autonomy” for Macao. Could he have turned to his second in command — the Vice- president of the Assembly — for advice? And even if he did, can the brother of the Chief Executive be trusted to demonstrate an absolute sense of impartiality? Again, this can only reinforce suspicions of power meddling.

And by ultimately withdrawing the resolution, to supposedly clarify misunderstandings, what has Mr Vong demonstrated? Courage when confronted with adversity? A capacity to be attuned with the community he is supposed to represent? The wisdom of his craft now that he is a non-competitively elected professional lawmaker?

For all these reasons, and because it will take at least a year for Mr Sou to be actually tried for “aggravated disobedience”, Mr Vong should sponsor a resolution re-instating in full Mr Sou as a lawmaker!

Published in Macau Daily Times on January 19, 2018

Kapok: Apologies warranted

New Year greetings is a must for a politician and even more so for a statesman: it provides the perfect occasion to reflect on past deeds and put achievements as well as setbacks in a different light, when one is not only judged on his action but also on his capacity to reflect upon his action; it corresponds also to a new beginning, a form of rejuvenation stemming from the course one is capable to draw for the future, with clarity of mind and rigor of assessment, striking a fine balance between what is desirable and what is feasible. Ultimately, this is an opportune time to mend fractures, heal wounds and bring the community together, especially because it also corresponds to a time of rejoicing, even though Christmas in our part of the world tends to be overly concerned with its highly consumerist side. But in Macao we are lucky: handover day falls on December 20th, and so everything is about values and virtues, with handover celebration speeches extending their long shadow over the final two weeks of the year.

As it is often the case in Chinese, Mr Chui Sai On chose an adage in four characters — two times four actually — to title his New Year wishes: “bai zhe bu nao, ying nan er shang,” (百折不撓 迎難而上) that can roughly be translated by “being undaunted by repeated setbacks and meeting the challenges head-on.” It conveys the virtues of perseverance, and the capacity to surmount any kind of adversity. No doubt that this is fitting after the disaster brought about by the devastating typhoon Hato in August that claimed 10 lives, maimed more than 240 others and caused more than 11 billion in physical damage. Mr Chui makes no ambiguity about it as he devotes a lengthy paragraph making up one-fifth of his greetings to the matter. To say what exactly?

First, that this was the worst typhoon since 1953 and that everybody had been taken by surprise as the community had grown complacent as it had not been confronted with such upheavals in the “relatively peaceful past decades.” Then, Mr Chui goes on in praising the remarkable traditional virtues displayed by the Macao people, especially the ones of “inclusiveness” and “mutual assistance”, overcoming the difficulties thanks to a remarkable sense of solidarity. Had Mr Chui stop there, I don’t think I would have even bothered writing this column: after all, the rest of the greetings is just one big exercise in stuffing as many slogans as possible — “one belt, one road”, five-year plan, “centre for tourism and leisure”, “economic and trade co-operation platform for China and Portuguese-speaking countries”, etc. And then, Mr Chui’s greetings appear in the  Chinese language “Macao Daily News” next to the ones of the director of the Liaison Office in Macao, on page 7, in which Zheng Xiaosong provides a long commentary on the vision provided by the just concluded 19th Party Congress in Beijing. No wonder then that Mr Chui would make five references to the “one country, two systems” formula whereas he mentions only once the “high degree of autonomy” in his short recitation.

Even the overemphasis on the element of surprise and the common (and yet wrong) understanding that one cannot anticipate the unexpected are not that shocking after all: one cannot blame Mr Chui for not having read Emile de Girardin whose words should serve as the incipit of any policy address — “To govern is to foresee” (Gouverner c’est prévoir).

But when one fails to anticipate, when one promises repeatedly to build adequate infrastructure to fight flooding and natural disasters and yet one fails to deliver and is thus indirectly responsible for the death of 10 people, what should one do at the very least? Apologize! Not a word asking for forgiveness in Mr Chui’s sermon. Is being indomitable grounded in a total lack of empathy and sympathy? Isn’t Mr Chui aware that he is running the most reviled government since 1999?

Published in Macau Daily Times on January 5, 2018