Kapok: NIMBY, Macao style

Back in November 2010, Chief Executive Chui Sai On’s intent was clear and the direction chosen unhindered: “Regarding the development of tourism products, after heeding public opinion, and conducting analyses and assessments, the Government proposes an underground mall at Sai Van Lake Square as a trial location for developing a souvenir shopping complex and night market. This will showcase Macao cuisine and delicacies, and will become an integrated tourism project, after upgrading the relevant facilities through an open bidding process.” Of course, not everything went as planned.
First, the initial consultation for the project of a Sai Van lake permanent night market only occurred in November 2011. In the meantime, due processes for “public consultations”, the new fad in benevolent and opinion-led governance in lieu of democratic procedures, had changed: one round of public consultation would not be enough anymore, and a second round taking into account the lessons learnt from the first one would have to be organized. In that particular case, we were lucky rules had changed and government agencies had been slow in putting Mr Chui’s candid words into practice. The first public consultation was not only a disaster, but also marred by irregularities and opacity. Depending on who was doing the counting, opinions gathered ranged from a few dozen up to a maximum of 180, and only 8 such opinions had disapproved of the plan… But these results, without further comments, were only made public in October 2012(!), whereas regulations for public consultations state that it should take no more than 180 days after completion of the process.
Dissent and protest — too bad for consensus building — were soon to be heard: residents from the area started petitioning; concerned groups dealing with environmental and livelihood issues went marching and cycling around the lake, and even business interests made it clear as early as November 2012 that the whole project was plain wrong, both in intent and sustainability. Interestingly enough, David Chow Kam Fai, husband of legislator Melinda Chan Mei Yi and Macau Legend Development chief executive, expressed in a long op-ed published in the very conservative Macau Daily News his doubts about the “free market” side of the “open bidding process” — being the CEO of Fisherman’s Wharf Investment Ltd. might have made Mr. Chow pretty perceptive of the issue lying beneath less than fair competition. In reality, apart from the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau that had been entrusted with the project, only one public figure openly continued to support the scheme: legislator Chan Chak Mo. Incidentally representing the cultural sector in the Assembly, but mostly his own interests as the executive director of restaurant operator Future Bright Holdings Ltd, Mo nonetheless finds time to be the president of the Association of Macao Restaurant Merchants, the main organizer of the yearly Food Festival since 2001 precisely set on the banks of the… Sai Van lake!
So, a second consultation round was organized from December 2012 to March 2013. The press had already echoed vociferous sessions held with the general public, and even raucous exchanges with associations convened in closed-door meetings, including the usually pro-government General Union of the Neighborhood Associations and the Federation of Trade Unions that had expressed either a resolute opposition or suggested a relocation and a downsizing of the whole plan. But the official results of that consultation that came out on September 19 surpassed all expectations. More than 1,100 opinions were collected and an additional survey was conducted over the phone by the University of Macao with 1,529 respondents to envision what kind of facilities could be developed around the lake: overall, the initial night market project freely inspired by Clark Quay in Singapore and Tamsui night market in northern Taiwan was rejected by more than 70% of the population, and if a good 60% of the people surveyed over the phone want more facilities, they believe these should be more in line with green paths and walking/jogging tracks. From the “positioning”, the project itself to the localization, all three were heavily rejected: could this be the start of a “Not-In-My-Backyard” movement, with Macanese characteristics?

Published in Macau Daily Times, September 27th 2013

Kapok: What is to be done?

Reflecting on the past two weeks of intense debate and campaigning for the 14 seats that are up for grabs in the Legislative Assembly on September 15, one could simply say: so far so good.
On the side of the Electoral Commission, and even though there is room for improvement, the act has been cleaned up in many respects. Blatant infringements of the electoral law during the official two-weeks of campaigning have been mostly curbed, especially regarding wild and ubiquitous wall posting of promotional material in non-dedicated spaces—the only obvious exception being private lorries transporting visiting gamblers parading with posters of casino-related candidates. 
One might complain that things could have been even better, especially if some of the rules had been clarified earlier on, as exemplified in the polemic regarding posters adorning taxis. I would also note that prevention of abuses that are difficult to substantiate—especially in the case of connected associations patting voters on the shoulder through gifts and banquets beforehand —could more easily become a reality if the Electoral Affairs Commission had been operating long before March this year, and had had its ranks strengthened during the official campaign with, for example, volunteers from all the lists in the competition. In the case of some of the printed platforms being altered without prior approval of the lists, again an extended lapse of time—only one month as of now—between the publication of the acceptance to enter the fray and the start of the official campaign could help, especially if combined with a legal and transparent consultative mechanism. But let’s not be too harsh: Sunday will be a busy day for the Commission, starting with the monitoring of how voters get transported to the voting booths!
Now to the tone and style of the campaign per se. As expected, it has been buoyant, passionately debated and full of happenings—not quite Hong Kong or Taiwan yet, but getting there. 
The explosive mix of rejuvenation of the electorate, pervasiveness of electronic social media and added competition has translated into a “negative” campaigning style that has pushed the “old guard” on the defensive and helped groom a possible new generation of concerned citizens-turned-politicians. During debate time, traditional association representatives of the four hues—labor, women, neighborhood and patriotic—have been openly challenged. In being directly questioned, the “age-wise” constitutive element of their legitimacy, already pretty depleted in the case of the neighborhood folks, was seriously eroded. All the more so because a few minor lists had been precisely formed to oppose head-on well-established incumbent legislators, even the ones credited with a solid record in the Assembly—in the case of labor-oriented lists, the rustproof UPD was being challenged by at least three alternative ones! Ultimately, not only “age” was being put into question, but also whether or not these associations were “doing a good job”, delivering on their promises and possibly doing so in a consistent manner. Capacity was thus doubted. This attrition of confidence became even more salient for the casino-backed candidates, although the equation for them appeared to be early on “not too lose too much” rather than registering significant gains. If the latest rallying slogans are to be trusted, one can feel that worry has started to get hold of even the most confident heavyweights. Of course, claiming that the house is about to be engulfed by flames in the last days of the campaign has always been a classic strategic eleventh hour politicking recourse. And yet…
What Is to Be Done? When Lenin penned his pamphlet back in 1901, his main argument was that to convert the working class to Marxism despite all the odds, a political party made up of a “vanguard” should be formed to spread the ideology. Communism is gone, but Democracy is still an aspiration. A high turnout rate should probably help a different kind of vanguard making it in.

Published in Macau Daily Times, September 13th 2013

Kapok: Of expected uncertainties

To all the people who believe that the electoral campaign starting on August 31st and leading to the vote of “9.15” is an absolute travesty of democracy I say: You are wrong! Two reasons for the professional cynics to refrain from exercising their disheartening doubtful scorn for electoral politics in the SAR context: First of all, because quite a good number of very respectful, experienced and committed candidates are going to take that campaign very seriously—for that reason alone, comfy disdain is shameful; and then, one can indeed expect far more competition than the widespread “done deal” common sense would like us to believe—it is not only an additional two seats that are going to be contended, but at least five and possibly seven out of 14 opened to universal suffrage.
What is true though is that the government will still hold at least 80% of support in the new Assembly, whatever happens: Out of a total of 33 legislators, seven are directly appointed by the Chief Executive, 12 are endorsed—no real election there despite all the claims—by functional constituencies tightly intertwined together and with the government, and at the very least eight elected lawmakers will never fail to be supportive of the government’s policies, whatever disagreements they might have expressed—and that goes beyond party discipline and is more in tune with self-serving subservience. But then, alternative voices are needed, and this is why, despite the traditional patron-client relations that exist in Macao and the highly restrictive voting system that is being used for these elections (the inglorious modified D’Hondt method), we could be in for a few surprises—uncertainty in essence is democratic!
Despite the lack of reliable studies about voter behaviors—far too often we hear that people are not interested in politics in Macao, and yet samples and questionnaires are either unsatisfactory or biased—it has become rather obvious that a significant segment of the population is quite unhappy with the overall performance of the Legislature and only four lawmakers make the cut above 60% of satisfaction as reported last year by the Association of Macao New Vision: two democrats, Ng Kuok Cheong and Au Kam San, an independent legislator cum-civil servant representative José Pereira Coutinho and Kwan Tsui Hang (traditional Macao Federation of Trade Unions). The worst performers among the directly elected legislators are all from the business sector and especially casino-related—the last of them all being Angela Leong who also holds the record in her category for being the most absent in plenary sessions in 2012/2013. This disgruntlement regarding business-related legislators, the growing strength of the democrats who have been the highest vote-getters in the three previous elections and who are now becoming ever more assertive (aiming at five seats with three lists), the decline of traditional associations (why else offer Chan Hong a seat in an indirect constituency if the Kaifong was so confident?), and an electorate that has become younger at one end (52,000 voters out of a total of 277,000 are aged 29 and below) and more critical for the largest cohorts composed of people in their 50s (74,000 of them) have to be factored in. Then incumbents (Chan Wai Chi, the No. 2 on Ng Kuok Cheong’s list; Melinda Chan Mei Yi, the one least well elected in 2009), new comers on well-established lists (Si Ka Lon, Chan Meng Kam’s No. 2; Lam Lon Wai, Kwan Tsui Hang’s No. 2; and Wong Kit Cheng, Ho Ian Song’s No. 2) as well as novel challengers (Agnes Lam and Jason Chao) all stand an almost equal chance of winning.
Combine the need and craving for change with an unduly limited window of competitive opportunity, and you are almost for sure heading for a bloodthirsty electoral clash, one in which social media could very well serve an extreme role in twisting the campaign towards a negative style, thus exposing the hypocrisy of a few and the distrust in many. And in Macao, nobody needs to be reminded that “a throw of the dice will never abolish chance.”

Published in Macau Daily Times, August 30th 2013

Kapok: Like it or not…

Just coming back to Macao from my summer break, I was greeted by both a typhoon 8 signal when I landed and then later on the usual Q&A session with Chief Executive Chui Sai On at the Legislative Assembly when I resumed work. Although unrelated, the synchronicity of the events—with a good 24 hours time lag—got me thinking: when does not much become something, and is there a deeper meaning to much ado about nothing?
As far as Typhoon Utor is concerned, caprices of nature are tricky to ascertain. Although there are always three clearly identified phases in the materialization of a typhoon, one can always expect the unexpected, as the Hong Kong film title goes. Before it hits, the air grows in density and an unusually serene kind of atmosphere settles in. Then comes the real thing, and depending on the course and strength of the typhoon, one is almost certain to witness strong swirls of wind and sudden passages of dense rain curtains. Finally, while the typhoon leaves, diminutive showers and lingering gusts are accompanied by the first assessments of the actual damage that was caused. As it is often the case with a signal 8 that equates to a “severe typhoon”, people viewing this for the first time and/or into apocalypse-type experience often get disappointed: social media in the past two days were brisking with derogatory comments about the actual potency of Utor. But precaution is of utmost importance in this kind of situation and the characterization of any given typhoon is a scientific function of the strength of the gusts and the closeness of the epicenter. One can always wonder whether it was hoisted too soon or lowered too late, this is not up to a rule of the thumb, whatever the cost for the economy. Basically, disappointment is a matter of perception not of reality.
Of course Chui Sai On’s own performance during a Q&A session at the Legislative Assembly seems quite remote from natural cataclysm forecast and appraisal, despite the claim that “political crafting” matters and that it is done under the auspices of “scientific governance” here. Mr Chui’s answers are indeed highly predictable and as one of my students nicely puts it: why call it an “engagement” with the members of the legislature if questions and answers are respectively sent and written beforehand, and ultimately read by the Chief Executive—and here I would myself add that the CE uninspiringly stumbles through tables of statistics in order to hide any sense of vision? In November, questions to the CE after the presentation of his policy address correspond to his duty as stated in the Macao Basic Law. Civil servants thus spend months preparing for questions that are not arranged beforehand, so that the CE can indeed look “executive”. In April and August, rules are different and the exercise is meant to temper worries (no duty there): right before a usually agitated May Day in spring and right at the closing of the legislative session in summer, and this year around just one month before the legislative elections. Bearing that in mind, I do believe that the Macao Government Information Bureau should have refrained from adding a passing comment on the referring webpage to watch Mr Chui’s live broadcast that the CE “attaches great importance to the interactions with the Legislative Assembly”: the wording sounds propaganda-like and the format is indeed a mockery of interaction.
Well, we are still in the Ghost Month (August 7 to September 4 this year) during which ghosts and spirits are roaming the realm of the living in search of souls. Offerings are meant to tame prowling spirits and it is indeed an ominous month to start any new venture!

Published in Macau Daily Times, August 16 2013

Kapok: In tune with the times

Edward Snowden and his challenge to the mighty US government have now become a modernized version of David vs. Goliath, and Snowden himself a household name for courage and determination in the fight for the defense of civil liberties. Knowledge and the circulation of data have replaced the sling, but the story remains the same: the seemingly invincible can be defeated if one is dexterous enough to find a hole in the armor. By exposing several classified intelligence programs run by the American and British intelligence services, among which we find the interception of US and European telephone metadata (the ins and outs of phone calls and not their actual content) as well as Internet surveillance programs such as PRISM and Tempora, Edward Snowden, a former technical contractor with the CIA and NSA, has become the epitome of what is now commonly characterized as a “whistleblower”, simply defined by Princeton’s WordNet as “an informant who exposes wrongdoing within an organization in the hope of stopping it.” What is at stake here is a possible abuse of power by the state apparatus and whether these surveillance programs are duly overseen by both the judiciary and the legislative so that encroachment over civil rights remain minimal and justifiable. Ultimately, there is a balance to be struck between one’s founding values—justice and liberty—on the one hand and the indisputable primacy of the safety that each and every state is supposed to guaranty to its own citizens on the other hand. Blowing the whistle in that case was to demand for more scrutiny over a possible imbalance between one and the other.
Whistleblowers come in every color and every hue. Among the most high profile and charismatic as well as controversial figures of a whistleblower, Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange is clearly unmatched. Snowden in comparison appears far more accidental and unassuming, although his odyssey to escape prosecutions in America has captivated the world’s imagination—from Hawaii to Moscow with a short spell in Hong Kong. Despite all the present tensions between Russia and the US, especially about Syria and Iran, Putin himself has declared that Snowden could only stay in his country if he stopped “leaking secrets”! States of the World, unite against the whistleblowers! It is then no wonder that when Dr. Jiang Yanyong, the chief physician of the 301 Military Hospital in Beijing, sent his letter to denounce the cover up of the SARS epidemic back in April 2003, neither Chinese Central Television-4 (state-run) or PhoenixTV (state-connected) decided to report the story. It is only when The Wall Street Journal and Time picked up the story that authorities in China were forced to react. In Snowden’s case, the British Guardian and the American New York Times did play a crucial role. In Macao, whistleblower-cum-politician Jason Chao has to go one step further and resort to pose as a journalist—a citizen journalist to be more precise—because civil society, including the media, is so embroiled in a patron-client relation with the state that the Gramscian understanding of it as one of ‘hegemony’ and the ‘manufacture of consent’ has become prevalent.
Of course I find it all the more ironic to write this column on a 4th of July, a day on which the US celebrate the fact “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” I cannot help but think that no other country on the planet, despite all its imperfections and misdeeds, has ever held these truths so evidently. A country that always found in its own ranks the vital force to better itself cannot be embarrassed: it can only grow stronger!

Published in Macau Daily Times, July 5th 2013