Kapok | Everything in style

Eric Sautedé

This is an ancient dilemma: which one should prevail, substance over form or the opposite? For a very long time substance was always the one considered to be the most important. Getting an education used to mean being “elevated” by the teaching of the classics, and that knowledge was provided through the tedious study of the original texts, the teacher acting as the sole guarantor of compliance. In France, today still, primary and secondary students are called “élèves”, the ones being elevated—students have to make the extra effort to reach the teacher’s level. Up to the early years of the twentieth century in China, imperial exams were based on the perfect recitation of the Confucian classics and the complete subjugation to extremely formal literary styles—writing poetry usually came later, either after having fallen from grace or resigning from the civil service. In business, because of the industrial nature of our societies, the quality of the product used to be everything: the longevity of goods, for example, was the decisive testimony of engineering prowess. Stockings for women were meant to resist the hardship of any labor in the 1950s still, even while working the fields!
Things have changed, and not only because more than half of the world’s population is now living in urban areas. With the advent of mass education in the 1960s, the challenge has been to get a majority of the community up to a given level, and to a certain extent—the battle is not over—form prevailed: student-centered education became imperative, and what was to be taught became second to what had been learnt. For sure, the “middleisation” of society has had its virtues and benefits. With the advent of a consumerist society, the marketing and packaging of merchandise came to play a dominant role. Durability was no longer the crux of the matter: products were to be enticing and pushed to shoppers in order for consuming-cycles to be reduced. Quite a significant number of sophisticated goods, because of fast technological advance, are today meant to be renewed on a yearly basis—think iPhone 6, oops! Sorry, the 6S is already out! But then, you would be branded an environmental criminal if you had kept your car or your washing machine from 10 years ago! Ultimately—and this is true wisdom—one has to find a balance.
In politics, things are not much different, and Macao is of course no stranger to the need of striking a balance between form and substance. Take the misogynistic and phallocratic outbursts of legislator Fong Chi Keong who publicly advocates a good beating for spouses who talk back to their husbands: this is both unprincipled and devoid of any underpinning. If you add to that the flowery language, the burlesque act and the gravelly voice, not much form is left either, unless you consider crudeness as a proper stylish demeanor for a representative of the highest authority. Then, take our new secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam. What a change! Superman Tam, as he is often referred to, is not only a workaholic but also an avid communicator. Interviews are given to the Portuguese press—in Portuguese—, and mind you, for the first time ever, All About Macao, one of the few Chinese-speaking liberal newspapers in town, got to be graced with a one-on-one interview. Short-term measures for both healthcare and education are already being announced, more than two months prior to the policy address. A vision is given for the next five years: could that be the end of short-termism? And then, City of Dreams gets to nag the Health Bureau over smoking areas at a time when the government is reviewing the tobacco control rules: the bureau’s director, under Mr Tam’s benevolent gaze, immediately announces that fines could soon become really deterring—how many times the MOP$100,000 already imposed? Chui Sai On himself could weigh in: after all, he can decide to simply terminate the smoking sections for repeat offenders. Well, everything is possible, even taxis have stopped fishing… That makes us look good!