Kapok | Too many ways to be No. 1

Eric Sautedé

Being in the news for allegations of vote-buying during election time is never a great thing in terms of image, to say the least. This is even worse when it concerns the leading contender—being a tainted number one will always make you look like a loser—and then it can turn into a disaster when what is alleged eventually becomes proven and established beyond reasonable doubt. This is partly the situation of the not-for-profit group Aliança do Povo de Instituição de Macau (API), or 民眾建澳聯盟 in Chinese, which I would translate into English as the Alliance of the People for the Strengthening of Macau—the flagship organization of legislator and executive council member Chan Meng Kam. However, the condemnation of two members of the association for vote-buying during the 2013 elections has unraveled almost two years after the casting of the vote. The association today, in effect, is distinct from the list that was then led by the strongman of the Fujianese community, the Association of the United Citizens of Macao, although the logos are pretty similar—the people 民 is made of people 人人人!
Beyond the debate about the nature of the allegations (buying meals and transporting supporters to voting booths), the way the proof was obtained (a CCAC agent going undercover and interviews being conducted in a suggestive manner) and the condemnation proper (targeting two elderly supporters and being supposedly politically motivated on the part of the government), one can easily understand why the secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan, would promise to amend the electoral law before the end of the next legislative session, in the wake of the tumult: irresponsibility and lack of accountability appear to prevail because of the time lapse and confusing identities, and actually weaken the one and only institution in the whole institutional design of our SAR that demonstrates a slight democratic component.
While Song Pek Kei, the third member of Chan Meng Kam’s winning list in 2013 and vice president of the API, has started to voice her discontent at the judgment made public on Friday—that the API is appealing—along with the very vocal Chan Tak Seng, the API director who organized a very combative press conference on Tuesday, several media outlets have highlighted the contrasting fact that Mr Chan Meng Kam and his number two, Si Ka Lon, are nowhere to be seen. Coming in as the fourth-
best funded association in the first quarter of 2015 by the Macau Foundation after the Federation of Trade Unions, the General Union of Neighborhood and the General Association of Women, there is no doubt that the API has all the characteristics of a quasi-political party at the service of Mr Chan Meng Kam, who is the honorary president, whereas Si Ka Lon serves as its current president.
Looking at the statutes of the association, which was only established in March 2008, one can read that the raison d’être of the whole group is not only to foster the love of the motherland and Macau, to serve the “one country two systems” principle as well as to ensure that the “people of Macao govern Macao” according to “a high degree of autonomy”, but also to provide social and welfare services. The statutes further indicate that beyond the full support it ensures to the Macau SAR government when it comes to law, economic development, people’s livelihood, the promotion of democracy (sic!) and the advancement of unity, long-term prosperity and stability, API should also explore and initiate new perspectives!
The good news is that people care. Despite the delay, the citizenry is paying attention by eagerly following the twists and turns of the affair via the press. The judicial system, the government at large and even the perpetrators—contesting is being attentive—are in full battle mode. In a banana republic, nobody cares, but even a very truncated democracy, an increasingly vibrant civil society, supported by more sophisticated citizens, is remarkably looking for greater meaning and ultimately vaster purpose. The government cannot fail to respond to that call.