Rear Window | The deciding factor(s)

Severo Portela

As we have said before in this column, and we will say it again, apparently all relevant central political tips are vouching for a Ho Iat Seng to run solo in the replacement of the sitting Chief Executive. This December 2019 will define MSAR’s  20th anniversary.

However, and that is the beauty of “apparently”, the possibility of a dual run, either of the apparent or aesthetic type or a much more balanced, fair and competitive one, is not a delusion at all. Despite the “solo run” seeming to be the logical answer to a slightly developing political system – a mere increase of the small-circle selected elements – the fact is that option has been contributing largely to the erasure of the word “elections”.

Albeit this could be a serious consideration to avoid a Ho Iat Seng solitary walk from Legislative House to Government House, the motives not to write off any competition are of a different nature from the idea of safeguarding the right to put in a claim for a due electoral process.

The above mentioned possibility of a dual run comes from an authentic reading of the boundary Beijing has drawn for Macau candidates to the top job; we summarize the criteria for a dual package: political, with the imagery of Love China and Love Macau; technical, with the ability to develop a role for MSAR according to the principle “One country, Two systems”… based on the framework of the Greater Bay Area.

To have a clear view on this point, we care to consider that anyone who dares to wish for the seat of Chief Executive would find it compulsory to comply with the political criteria. From this premise onwards we may conclude that given two or more candidates with patriotic credentials, the best choice should fall to the one with the best technical credentials to, firstly, navigate the political charts of the role and contributions MSAR could add to the Greater Bay Area and the Position of Macau as a service platform for the trade cooperation between China and the Portuguese-Speaking Countries, and, secondly, have the best technical credentials to direct the actual model of economic development and public interest of MSAR people under the Second System.

By “actual model of economic development”, and forgive the self-quote, we refer to the self-evident importance of the monoculture of the casinos, which today are on the verge of a renewal of concessions, or a re-arrangement of the gaming landscape. Anyone who becomes Chief Executive will have to deal with the casino industry…a reality an outsider usually takes for granted for its utter complexity.

Besides the gaming cluster, the MSAR Chief Executive to be would have to take care of, and another self-quote to be forgiven, the “public interest of the people under the Second System”. Roughly speaking, this is the local community self-interest in confronting the alleged interests of the First System in the integration of MSAR into the PRD.

To help elucidate this issue of public interest, we resort to the echo of community concerns today, protests tomorrow, of the likes pro-democracy Sulu Sou is taking to the Legislative Assembly: the negative influences of over-tourism on the lives of residents and somehow associated with the matter of the non-reciprocal mutual driver license recognition scheme.

This is the job description from which runs a profile!  It is probably better not to burn a card for a real contender. And forgive us the pamphleteer “the winner of tomorrow could be the underdog today”.