Analyst: Municipal Institute just a change of name

IACM headquarters

The necessity of creating the Municipal Institute was only due to an adaptation of what is stated in the Basic Law and thus its inception is simply a change of name, according to political scientist Larry So. 

On Tuesday, the government announced a public consultation that proposes the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) will be abolished once the city establishes this new non-political municipal organization.

The proposal states that the Municipal Institution will provide consultations to the government and that it will effectively take over the functions that IACM currently performs.

Back in 2015, Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan said she expected a non-political municipal organization to be set up in 2017, adding last year that the organization will not overlap with those functions of the IACM.

Speaking to the Times, political commentator Larry So explained that the IACM had to be restructured.

However, So said that the move comes 15 years later than it should have, something the government is yet to explain. “How come we had to wait for 15 years before we find out that we’ve missed something? It seems that it’s been a really late reform,” said So.

The proposal suggests that the Municipal Institution should establish two internal councils; namely, the Municipal Administration Council and the Municipal Consultation Council.

Although the government claimed that the institute will be non-political, So argued that the institute will still be a part of the political process, it would still gather public opinion, and as such he questioned the definition of a “non-political body.”

The government has stated that the move was required according to the Basic Law, yet So lamented that it undermines the whole purpose of using grassroots representatives to provide the government with public opinion – as committee members are appointed.

“How come the government says that this is non-political organization? That is something I really don’t understand,” he questioned.

So explained that the organization is a “strange case” as the government will appoint committee members, yet two of those members will have a seat in the electoral college for the chief executive election.

Larry So

“It’s like I appoint you then you appoint me and you have to elect me?” So jested.

Questioned on whether a lack of transparency exists in this matter, the political analyst remarked that the government has been trying to be more transparent through its public consultations, yet added that it still would not change its most relevant issues, such as the appointment of members instead of election.

So also stated that the Municipal Institute is essentially a change of name. In comparison to Hong Kong where local government bodies are elected rather than appointed (although the Basic Law is similar), So argued that Hong Kong portrays a “totally different picture,” as different parties in Hong Kong face strong competition in some districts – which encourages the participation of grassroots movements.

He added that residents in Hong Kong are more “political,” in terms of their awareness and participation in politics.

“We are looking at democratic society [in Hong Kong]. In Macau, we have similar structure but similar structure doesn’t mean that its functions are similar,” he said.

“There is no essence of the so called democratic values in Macau. I think we are talking about two different pictures and a time of so-called ‘participation’ but then with a kind of manipulation,” So concluded.

The proposal is subject to public consultation, which started yesterday and will continue until November 23.

gov’t justifies ‘non-political’ option

REGARDING THE non-political aspect and also the reasons why this institution cannot be formed with publically elected representatives, the director of the Administration and Civil Services Bureau, Kou Peng Kuan, said this week that the Basic Law didn’t allow that option. However, when Macau was under the Portuguese administration, the municipal bureau (“Leal Senado”) was a political body. According to Kou, the function of the IACM as a government body ended after Macau’s handover to China, therefore the establishment of non-political organizations is in accordance with the Basic Law.

katchi: government mistaken,            elections do not equal political power

ANTÓNIO KATCHI, legal expert and lecturer at the Macau Polytechnic Institute, regards the proposed Municipal Institution as yet another “political option to refuse any step towards the democratization of Macau’s political and administrative organization.” He said that the government is mistaken in its belief political power must result from elected officials, as “the former refers to the nature and scope of power, while the latter refers to the way members are chosen.” For example, in mainland China, the lowest-ranking assemblies are elected and yet hold comparatively little or no political power. “At the village and municipal district level, for example, [China’s] Constitution and the Electoral Law, both dating back to 1982, stipulate the election of its members by direct universal suffrage,” said Katchi. “Those assemblies hold less power than their counterparts in the upper echelons, and are certainly devoid of political power in its narrow sense.”

Different interpretation of Basic Law in Macau, Hong Kong

T

he Macau Basic Law states that the region’s “municipal organizations which are not organs of political power may be established in the MSAR.”

These organizations provide services in fields such as culture, recreation and environmental sanitation, and shall be consulted by the government of the Region on the abovementioned affairs,” as cited in Section 5, Article 95 of the MSAR’s Basic Law.

Article 96 indicates that “the functions, powers and structures of the municipal organizations shall be prescribed by law.”

The two articles are similar to Hong Kong’s Basic Law, which states in Section 5, Article 97 that “district organizations which are not organs of political power may be established in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.” Similarly to Macau, article 98 of the HKSAR Basic Law states that “the powers and functions of the district organizations and the method for their formation shall be prescribed by law.”

However when the city’s ruling is compared to Hong Kong, Macau’s government bodies are appointed – an evidence that similar provisions in the two regions’ basic laws are interpreted differently.