Rear Window | Blue in the face

Severo Portela

It is that time in the year – busy, busy – with the Chief Executive’s annual Policy Presentation in the Legislative Assembly as well as the disclosing of the (2016) Budget, both best known by the Portuguese acronym of LAG.
Macau goes into LAG mode and mood…so self-absorbed that it has no time to think how it looks from the outside. One does not need to go further than 40 miles, or 65 kilometers, roughly, through the Pearl River Delta to twin sister Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, as Macau was feverish with its load of problems, in Hong Kong, billionaire Joseph Lau was splashing big cash, hence making global news around the world. Recall that the Macau Court of First Instance sentenced Lau to a prison term back in March 2014 of five years and three months on grounds of bribery and money laundering in the acquisition as chairman of “Chinese Estates” of a land plot facing Macau International Airport, and a stone’s throw from the gambling strip of Cotai, to be developed as a luxury project named La Scala. Lau, who did not attend the trial, appealed the decision…and as Hong Kong and Macau do not have an extradition treaty or anything similar, he is free as long as he does not travel here.
And he does spend lavishly. On November 11th the HK billionaire bought a USD 48.5 million large, rather, huge, blue diamond, known in the trade as The Blue Moon. Indeed, he has been busy this year. Lau, a USD9.8 billion Forbes billionaire, bought a Roy Lichtenstein and Picassos’ “Buste de Femme”.
In any case, the Macau government invalidated the land concession earlier granted to the developer Moon Ocean, later absorbed by Chinese Estates, while disgraced ex-secretary Ao Man Long was in office. To put an end to the notorious La Scala brief, the Chief Executive hinted that the plot will be used for public housing.
And this is the new way he addresses the big issues worrying civil society: he puts up a solution, like the rental cap, and lets the idea lose momentum in the Legislative Assembly; or he designates a prime plot to be developed into social flats and calmly waits for the outcome. Truly, the panorama of undeveloped plots could be burned elsewhere: in the courts. It is becoming harder by the day to sell the idea that the government is to blame for the idle land concessions. The important thing is that the CE is seen trying to find a solution, in spite of admitting shortcomings and delays of all sorts, rather like spinning a non-apologetic apology.
Chui Sai On has perfected his own way of smoothly handling matters of governance. He concedes to the team of Secretaries the task of introducing false dichotomies, like for example to smoke and not to smoke, and in the end he is the one to sponsor a third option without mentioning the language excesses with respect to science.
Dare to prove scientifically that smoking lounges do not affect third parties in casinos? Discourage the experience…the alternative would be to install an Art Gallery in the space of a smoking lounge.
One final note to alert the MDT readership to the excellent piece fellow columnist Paulo Barbosa wrote about the ongoing revision of the basic laws. I would say the movement is not revisionist tout court but more of an exegesis.
Macau is in no better shape than its twin sister in political structure: in China there is a once-in-
a-decade generational leadership transition, while in Macau we have the same generation coming from the inside of the leadership (executive) in such way we could say this is always the same government. Or a non-judicial jurisdiction.