CE-elect Sam’s legal background ‘is his greatest strength’
Interview by Yuki Lei
Running as the sole candidate for the sixth-term chief executive election, Sam Hou Fai was elected with 394 of 398 votes in Sunday’s poll, making him the first Macau Chief Executive-elect with a legal background – and Macao-Japan Chamber of Commerce President Dominic Sio Chi Wai pointed out yesterday the linkage between the rule of law and the business environment.
During yesterday’s interview with the Post, Sio repeatedly stressed the chamber’s expectations on how Sam will lead the community in the future, saying that “we are confident that he will lead Macau to a better future”. At the same time, as investors, the chamber, according to Sio, is also concerned about the development trend of the market and the possible changes in the investment environment: “With the emergence of a new leader, will the existing policies of society continue? Will there be new breakthroughs?”.
Sio, who owns a trading and investment company, went on to explain how the continuity of the current government’s policies would lead to faster economic growth driven by foreign investments attracted by Macau’s social stability: “If a place is socially unstable, even if it has a good market, social changes can lead to new challenges”. Sio was quick to add that under the institutional advantage of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle, Macau’s social stability was evident to the whole world, and it was precisely for this reason that in the 25 years since Macau’s return to the motherland, the continuity of its policies has not been affected by the election of a new chief executive: “Therefore, from these perspectives, we can see that the Macao-Japan Chamber of Commerce is not only interested in continuing the investment of Japanese enterprises that have already invested in Macau, but also has the opportunity to attract more and more Japanese enterprises from different industries, including catering, retail, tourism, and even the manufacturing industry”.
In Sam’s campaign manifesto, he pledged that he would continue to appropriately diversify Macau’s economy and transform its industries from the “wild” expansion of its gaming industry, underlining that in the future, the government would strengthen its leading role in the promotion of Macau’s new four key industries – 1) big health, 2) modern finance, 3) high-tech, and 4) conventions and exhibitions as well as culture and sports, and would even take the initiative to invest in the creation of new conditions for the industries, such as high-tech enterprises in particular, and that it would also discuss with local small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to study Macau’s changes in the consumer landscape, and would also give them more support by the public administration to assist in the transformation of the SMEs.
Concerning Sam’s manifesto, Sio said: “I believe that many of these Japanese enterprises, as our members, are very concerned about what kind of leader will emerge in Macau and how he will lead society in the right direction by improving administrative efficiency, as one of the important tasks in his governance.”
Sio also said that with the development of the Internet era, not only Macau, Hong Kong and even the whole nation are facing economic challenges, but other countries are also coping with different challenges, adding that his chamber believes that Sam could lead Macau to move towards an even better future, with his courageous and strong decision-making ability as well as a very in-depth understanding of the actual situation of the community: “Today’s Internet era requires a modern government to enhance its administrative efficiency, especially concerning the business environment”. He added that the public administration’s current cumbersome application procedures, such as for licences, are not conducive to promoting investments. That’s why, Sio said he was hoping that Sam would further shorten the time required for all these vetting and approval processes by upgrading the level of governance capacity.
Unlike previous chief executives, including the first- and second-term chief executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah, the third- and fourth-term chief executive Fernando Chui Sai On and the current chief executive Ho Iat Seng, all of whom have family business backgrounds, Sam was the president of Court of Final Appeal (TUI) until he announced his candidacy for the sixth-term chief executive in August. Speaking to the Post at his office in Nam Tung Commercial Building in Nam Van, Sio said that “Sam’s legal background is his greatest strength”, adding that his chamber has a “positive” view on the background of Sam’s judicial career, “which is not only free from negative concerns, but is also conducive to the future government’s efforts to optimise Macau’s laws and strengthen its legislative process”.
Macao-Japan Chamber of Commerce President Dominic Sio Chi Wai speaks to the Post yesterday at his office in Nam Tung Commercial Building in Nam Van.– Photo: Yuki Lei
