Insight | Missed opportunities

Paulo Barbosa

In Macau’s politics we often see the application of the principle articulated by the writer Tomasi di Lampedusa in his novel “The Leopard”: “If you want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.” But with a local twist: sometimes things will not stay as they are… they will get even worse.
This altered version of Lampedusa’s motto could be applied to the proposal to amend the Legislative Assembly (AL) Election Law that is under public consultation until June 5. According to the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sónia Chan, the revisions are intended to ensure “the maintenance of a just, fair and open environment” for AL elections.
Aside from the measure made to fit the case of Pereira Coutinho (who was a candidate in the latest legislative elections in Portugal) which is the introduction of a ban on elected members of the AL holding any political position in a foreign country, the amendments include the imposition of regulations regarding campaign advertising in newspapers and on websites.
As I pointed out in a May 2013 column (see “Here, anything goes”), this idea  was first hinted at by the then-Electoral Affairs Commission for the Legislative Assembly Election (CAEAL) president, Ip Son Sang (now the Public Prosecutor General).
In the aforementioned column I described that during a meeting between media representatives, Ip Son Sang tried to educate the audience – which was composed of journalists – about what they should do in order to avoid the pitfalls of propaganda and how to report in a balanced way. The explanation provided was confusing and some Chinese media representatives started asking what they could and could not do: “Is it ok to interview a candidate?”
The proposal now under debate can easily lead to violations of freedom of speech if applied without reasonability. Indeed, the statements made by Ip and Sónia Chan indicate that this could be the case.
Law expert António Katchi recently analyzed the consequences of banning a pre-campaign period, that he considers “anti-democratic”: “The aim of this measure is to minimize the campaign atmosphere and the free debate of ideas that precedes the campaign, granting administrative authorities – including the police and, beforehand, CAEAL– with legal tools to intervene in matters relating to campaign activities,” he told Radio Macau. “
Like the amendments to the AL election rules, the region’s first five-year plan seems to be another missed opportunity. Even the lawmakers don’t seem convinced by its vagueness, as some have stated that the document shows a lack of direction.
The inappropriateness of the plan starts with its name. A five-year plan is typical of socialist economies and doesn’t apply to a capitalist society (such as ours, at least according to the region’s leaders that like to point out that they don’t intervene with the market to regulate property issues, for example).
A five-year plan was recently presented by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. According to Reuters, it “was short on detail”… like Macau’s plan. Obviously the MSAR needs a lot of planning and the results of its lack are visible. But this plan seems not to be taken seriously even by those who made it.
There are many other missed opportunities: The exclusive bus lane running from Barra and Doca Lam Mau, currently under temporary testing phase, is a good idea. But it is conservative and comes late (there are exclusive bus lanes everywhere nowadays). In Hong Kong, for example, they are now discussing the introduction of an “electronic road pricing pilot scheme”  in Central and adjacent areas. Under this system, people who want to drive their private cars in the busy Central roads would need to pay a toll  to boost the use of public transport.
Another example of a missed opportunity is the ongoing detailed discussion of the Higher Education Bill, which passed its first reading in February 2015. Instead of lending credibility to local universities (everyone knows that some of them are a joke as the degrees they grant are not recognized or valued outside Macau), lawmakers are discussing ways for some students to obtain “double degrees” and “double majors.”
That, I guess, says it all.