Severo Portela
Apparently maverick lawmaker Pereira Coutinho was one of the few MSAR public figures to comment about the detention of former Prosecutor Ho Chio Meng as being no surprise at all. This kind of insight is usually compared to a Monday morning NFL Quarterback… not even a wise “I told you so”. However, Coutinho, apparently not buying the bad-apple theory of the corrupt all-mighty HCM’s decade-long skimming antics, was bold enough to comment beyond the fate of the former Prosecutor-general and anticipate more casualties from the unstoppable anti-graft campaign inspired by President Xi. Coutinho is right, the now infamous times of fei-chien or flying money are certainly over and the files remain open. A strong sign of the ongoing scrutiny is the high-profile appointment of Central Commission for Discipline Inspection Li Qinfang to supervise the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council.
As we know, elementary accounting knowledge is good enough to have an idea of the amount money that was being recycled at the baccarat tables by comparing the roaring years with the new normal of 19 billion patacas a month. David Dodwell from the Hong Kong-
Apec Trade Policy Group wrote in the SCMP that it takes a “brave punter to bet on a steady recovery from here”. Coincidently both the report to the Central Government on the midterm review of the gaming industry and the Asia-Pacific Financial Action Task Force assessment on money laundering are to be presented by this year-end. Money is an issue. Beijing is setting up a special fund of 100,000 million yuan to help workers that lose jobs due to the industrial restructuring. Money is a pressing issue.
Anyway, the casino industry is to change for good and the Central Government is giving a hand to help Macau adjust to mass-market oriented gaming in an environment that’s hard to diversify to anything that does not need heavy subsidizing and public money. The rubber stamp of the 13th five-year plan NPC annual session promises to increase the integration within the 9+2 Greater Pearl River Delta.
This is what Macau gets: what it loses in terms of autonomy, amongst others, is open to debate. Hopefully, such dialogue will not be through an opinion survey, and definitely not through the new trendy inspiration of the indirect/functional elections: 13 of the 15 members of the Heritage Council decided that Estoril Hotel has no relevance. Congratulations.
Finally, believe it or not, Macau seems unable to draft an updated Animal Protection Bill as a piece of legislation that could be suitable for any NGO around, applicable to all forms of life and also a coherent and technically clean one. Commonly known as the dog law, the Animal Protection Bill began its saga by confronting the hurdles of tradition, but now it seems to be confronting logic and its very destiny. Legal expert Paulo Cardinal speaking about the shortcomings – to say the least – of the new draft quoted by Portuguese daily Ponto Final, brought the case of an article that states no dog is to be allowed in a public space that forbids dogs. Is this an example of a norm that must be transgressed to be fulfilled? Monsieur La Palisse would underwrite it…proudly.
We mention this not so important legislation and not so thrilling lawmaking suspense just to warn of the damage the lack of will to legislate can cause society. This is about your dog but it could be about YOU, not you as an owner under a Dangerous Dogs Act. Renowned travel writer Pico Yier recalls that one day in Reykjavik, Iceland he saw a crowd gathered on a street and he looked to see what they were staring at: “it was a dog (long illegal in the capital)”. Just replace the dog.
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