Rear Window: On winning quietly

Severo Portela

Running against the unspoken rule, Chui Sai On’s second term began immediately after the Chief Executive was inaugurated on the SAR’s 15th anniversary. Usually, things go smoothly until sometime deep in the coming January, giving the political agenda time to sharpen and the political agents a few more days to prepare for the new cycle. That used to be protocol, indeed.
One can attribute the past deferments to a conservative pace, further slowed down by the holiday season, or to any other inconvenient tradition, but that is not relevant to our purpose, which is to find out why the government Secretaries seem to be running full throttle. And pardon me the exaggeration.
We believe that one has to look for an explanation for the Secretaries’ sudden urgency to intervene publicly about their portfolios in Chui Sai On’s refined political strategy, which brought him to a second solid term.
Back in 2014, social and economic problems, like housing, transportation and labor, were piling up to the point of being voiced loudly. MSAR citizens were aiming criticism directly at the Chief Executive – if it is not fair, it is at least common in politics to hold the top official accountable.
Instead of blaming it all on the political Secretaries, Chui acknowledged insufficiencies and errors, allowing the idea that he was assuming serious problems arising in each and every portfolio of his entire government to settle quietly in the hearts and minds of the people.
Later the strategy paid off – twice. First, Chui won the “right” to a second term to correct the wrongdoings of others, for which he was taking the blame, and secondly the right to have a completely refurbished government to do that. What had a much more decisive impact upon his political fate was the handling of the May demonstrations, as well as the quiet defusing of the civic consultation on democracy. The May 25 and 27 actions proved Chui to be the man for the job to keep social and political activism under the NPC reading of the Macau Basic Law.
Secondly, Chui won again by means of refractive politics, or rather the correct reading of the so-called Macau second system. In spite of the “mute” admission of the errors of others, the Chief Executive was not to blame for the ineffective handling of portfolios, since if he actually was, the Central Government and President Xi himself would not have endorsed a second five-year term. However, there were errors, and they had faces: Florinda Chan, Lao Sio Io, Francis Tam, Cheong Kuoc Vá and Chong U.
But now there are new faces in place. Macau people and the CE expect better performances in order to address and effectively correct errors. The new faces will answer for their portfolios – immediately. That is why the new government Secretaries rushed to duty from the starting block on December 20, 2014, although they’re running differently. From Secretary Alexis Tam, who took the lead and opted for an overexposed media style, to the more defensive approach of Sonia Chan and Wong Sio Chak, going to Secretary for Transportation and Public Works rusty local political praxis, and ending with smart and savvy Lionel Leong’s performance.
Leong, the Secretary for Economy and Finance, gave priority to meet AGOM, Kai Fong and other organizations, and wisely kept himself from putting the cart before the horse. Given the complexity of his portfolio, Leong did not dare to compromise with hasty statements. But things are changing – with no blind optimism, and with a watchful eye on Macau’s “laissez faire.”
In fact, there are no instant formulas for the majority of the problems. Alexis Tam, Sonia Chan, Raimundo Rosário, Wong Sio Chak and Lionel Leong all benefit from an alleged 365-day honeymoon period, the same 365 days they attribute to the directors of the departments under their portfolios.
365 days from now, both Secretaries and Directors are liable to become the CE’s political gambit.