Secretary Cheong suggests ‘unfamiliarity’ is the reason for complaints on removal of Catholic statues

It was the public’s “unfamiliarity” with the Coloane Catholic statues project that generated complaints, Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong told a press conference Tuesday.

He was asked by the Times if his arms of the government would enhance future communications with the public, following three consecutive post-commencement project announcements.

The public expressed their dissatisfaction with the Municipal Affairs Bureau’s (IAM) handling of the three occasions, saying that these matters, which are of public interest, were not announced before they commenced.

On Monday, a social media page revealed that a set of Catholic statues at the Coloane end of the Estrada do Istmo had been removed. Social media users demanded an explanation from the IAM.

Cheong said that the IAM had always wanted to restore the statues. Communications have long been underway with the Diocese of Macau. He then questioned the necessity of public consultations for every job the IAM undertakes in the future, hinting that governance will not be able to progress efficiently.

“I think this incident was caused by people [being] unfamiliar with the matter thinking the IAM destroying the statues after seeing a single photo,” Cheong said. “The work of the government is very transparent. There’s no way to cover them.”

He added that when a bidding process concludes, all data is available on the IAM website.

After the abrupt elimination of 18 trees in the Fai Chi Kei district, members of the public questioned why the IAM did not make any pre-commencement announcements on the project to assuage public worries.

On Monday evening, the IAM assured in a statement that the statues were relocated to a factory for restoration “after seeing damage from previous typhoons.” The IAM assured that the statues will be reinstalled in the same locations under the instructions of the Diocese of Macau.