Severo Portela
1. If politics are always local politics, you are in the right place to observe how Macau handles rocky problems or issues – similar to the ones that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is facing this 2014 hot, humid and sticky summer in the Pearl River Delta.
The pro-democracy drive in Hong Kong, apparently fuelled by the disclosure of a White Paper on the accommodation of the SAR in China’s system – although the other way around is equally true – threatens Chief Executive C. Y. Leung’s chances of a smooth-sailing 2017 election. Hong Kong’s CE has found himself in a situation where he cannot delegate the political answer to the challenges the so-called civil referendum has brought under his watch, in the process alienating Hong Kong’s people and eventually China.
Just a few miles over the Pearl River Delta, the MSAR’s Chief Executive has managed to regain political momentum against a scenario of a – pardon the rhyme – referendum, announced by three pro-democracy groups, and an ongoing situation of proven cases of freedom redux, both in the public academy, (UMAC) and private Catholic, institutions (University of Saint Joseph).
Chief Executive Chui Sai On has managed to stay behind the curtains. Unlike his HKSAR counterpart, he has the political conditions to respond to the political challenge coming from a mock-poll disguised as a referendum. This has been entrusted to his chief of cabinet, Alexis Tam.
Whether or not he was advised to maintain a prudent distance from the thorny issues, it does not matter. The MSAR’s Chief Executive took it upon himself to stay dedicated to the basics: being fully immersed in his constitutional duty to carry on with the election of the MSAR’s Chief Executive, where he is seeking re-election. More than safe sailing, Chui Sai On is sailing solo, on to another five crucial years in the Macau Special Administrative Region. The nomination period will be between July 18 and 29, and the CE has been marking his day(s).
Free from dealing personally with the aforementioned issues, as the one and only candidate to the top post, Chui Sai On has been promoting a social and economic program. For instance, how to tackle the problems of the housing demand, education and career opportunities for Macau’s youth, and economic diversification in areas that appeal to young people: new technology, cultural and creative industries. Even the upgrade of traditional industries can qualify as a new opportunity.
Macau faces serious challenges in each and every aspect of the SAR’s reality; nonetheless it is mandatory for local conventional wisdom to promote the perception that everything is fine. Given its mammoth financial surplus, everything has to be fine. It is not, but in the realm of serendipity there is a fortunate chance for those who share a sense of urgency.
2. Well-known Chinese political consistency indicates that Macau’s coming referendum would elicit a similar reaction as the 800,000 strong opinion survey in Hong Kong. Despite the constitutional asymmetry between the PRC’s Constitution and the Macau Basic Law, and the Central authorities’ obvious leverage over the Special Administrative Region, the burden of proving that the civic straw poll is “illegal” goes directly to Macau’s courts.
Legislator Gabriel Tong differentiates between a political assessment by the Liaison Office and a quasi-legal evaluation by Alexis Tam. In our own civic opinion, both are the inaccurate results of excessive interpretation of an outright mockery mistaken for a referendum, nothing more than antics of provocation in civic activism, treating an informal survey as a political plebiscite. Anyway, we would go for a third option and take the comments as a means to gauge the probable impact of straw-polls in the future – not as actual and excessive threats.
As to the ‘thing’ being invalid – there is nothing to say about it, unless it were to forecast another level of political expertise and activism with Sulu Sou, the obvious candidate, and Billy Chou. The quick rotation inside NMD is about to challenge the paternalistic inertia amongst associative organizations, or their entitlement, if you prefer.
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