I must admit that when I first heard a rumour in late August about Macau’s top judge, Sam Hou Fai, going to run for the special administrative region’s top executive post and the current chief executive, Ho Iat Seng, would not be seeking a second term, I was flabbergasted.
Well, a study released by the US-based science advancement online journal PlosOne in 2016* found that rumours that are ultimately proven true tend to be resolved faster than those that turn out to be false.
In this particular case, the rumour was proven true within a matter of days.
Well, politics is full of surprises.
Many of my colleagues, acquaintances and friends also expressed surprise at the fact that a judge without a major family business background was set to become Macau’s chief executive.
Typically, judges and political leaders tend to have separate career paths, but legal expertise can, of course, lead to prominent roles in governance. There is an abundance – some would say an overabundance – of lawyers that have been in top political positions such as Franklin D. Roosevelt and Tony Blair.
Moreover, chief justices are widely seen as operating in an ivory tower, aloof from the rest of the world.
Indeed, in terms of his family and professional background Sam is quite different to his three predecessors. He will be the Macau Special Administrative Region’s (MSAR) first chief executive not born here and also the first not born into a prominent business family. In terms of their professions, Edmund Ho Hau Wah (CE from 1999 to 2009), a banker and auditor with a degree in accounting; Fernando Chui Sai On (CE 2009-2019) a school principal with a PhD in public health, and Ho Iat Seng (since December 2019), one of Macau’s best-known industrialists and an alumnus of Jinan University All of them are former local lawmakers. Edmund Ho and Ho Iat Seng are former Macau deputies to the National People’s Congress (NPC). Edmund Ho is nowadays the highest-ranked Macau-based political figure in his capacity as vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
When Sam became president of Macau’s highest court, the Court of Final Appeal (TUI), on December 20, 1999, at the “tender” age of 37, he was reputed to be the world’s youngest chief judge. He remained in his post for nearly a quarter of a century, until he resigned at the end of August this year so that he could launch his CE candidacy.
At least initially, some local commentors made much of the fact that Sam will be the first chief executive not born in Macau. I think their US-styled “birther” argument is a fallacy. Article 46 of the MSAR Basic Law states that the chief executive “shall be a Chinese citizen of not less than 40 years who is a permanent resident of the Region and has ordinarily resided in Macau for a continuous period of not less than 20 years”.
Sam moved from his hometown Zhongshan, a mere 40 kilometres north of Macau, to our city back in 1986. Tens of thousands of Macau residents have their roots in Zhongshan. Some commentors, mainly those expressing their views through social media, still do not seem to understand that Macau and Zhongshan are cities of the same nation – China.
Our future chief executive is a law graduate of one of the country’s most prestigious tertiary education institutions, Peking University, and he also attended courses at Portugal’s august Coimbra University. Unlike Macau’s first three chief executives, Sam is versed in the Portuguese language, jurisprudence and culture, which is definitely a plus, considering that Portuguese is one of Macau’s two official languages and the local legal system is based on the one in Portugal.
Sam was elected by 98.99 percent of the votes cast by the 400-strong Chief Executive Election Committee. The impressive outcome is similar to those of previous elections by the committee, which consists of a wide range of business, labour, community and religious representatives as well as a number of ex-officio members representing the Macau Legislative Assembly (AL), NPC and CPPCC. For instance, in 2004, Edmund Ho garnered 99.00 percent of the votes cast by the then 300-member CE Election Committee. Ho Iat Seng won 98.00 percent of the votes in 2019. He announced in August this year that he would not seek a second five-year term – the maximum allowed under the MSAR Bacic Law – citing health reasons.
Macau’s political system is based on traditional Asian consensus policies that try their best to avoid open conflict and confrontation, preferring deliberative or consultative democracy instead. This concept, which in the case of Macau is devoid of political parties, includes the local Legislative Assembly and Chief Executive elections. Incidentally, the current composition of the local legislature originated from the mid-1970s when the city was still under temporary Portuguese administration. Since then, it has been revamped several times but not fundamentally changed, as it has kept its three-tier system of directly and indirectly elected and government appointed lawmakers intact.
Macau’s pre- December 20, 1999 governors were appointed by Portugal’s president.
As I have seen Sam only occasionally at formal functions over the past 25 years, I do not know much about him as far as his personality is concerned. So, I did what every professional journalist ought to do in this case – I talked to quite a number of people – both “commonfolks” and “people in the know”. That took time, and that’s why I decided to write this editorial only yesterday.
Sam’s candidacy nomination period ran between August 29 and September 12, while his election campaign took place between September 28 and October 11.
According to Sam’s election campaign office, he met with 108 community associations, involving 2,194 residents from various segments of civil society, during the campaign, in the course of which his office gathered over 2,200 opinions and suggestions. He also hosted a Q&A meeting with hundreds of residents who could apply online to participate in it.
And, perhaps most importantly in terms of boosting his image among the general public, Sam went on five walkabouts in different neighbourhoods across the city, namely Iao Hon and San Kio districts, the Inner Harbour area, central Taipa, and Coloane’s sprawling Seac Pai Van public housing estate. Talking to reporters after the walkabouts, Sam confessed that some of the views and opinions raised by residents triggered “very deep feelings” in him.
The outcome of my own little “vox pop” is that many of those who met him during his campaign activities concluded that he was “jie di qi” (接地氣）or “tip dei” (貼地), Mandarin or Cantonese for “down to earth”, pragmatic and realistic.
I have been told by friends that the term is a genuine compliment for a senior official who is people-orientated and actively engaged with the community, listens to their concerns and makes himself accessible, ensuring that citizens feel valued and, last but not least, heard. In other words, an official who is approachable and genuinely cares about the well-being of the community. One of the term’s meanings – realistic – is, of course, music to my ears, as I am convinced that not only politicians but also journalists should be, first of all, realists. Being regarded by one’s fellow citizens as friendly or kind is a nice thing but not enough to pursue people-orientated policies effectively. For that, government leaders in particular, need, first of all, to be realistic and pragmatic – down to earth. Being friendly and kind is, quite naturally, an additional image bonus but not enough to be a capable leader.
An informed source pointed out to me last week that Sam’s “ordinary” family background both in Zhongshan and the one of his in-laws in Macau has enabled him since moving here nearly four decades ago to easily “feel the pulse” of the man and woman in the street, irrespective of his half-a-century long position as Macau’s most senior judge.
In his election acceptance speech on October 13, Sam pledged to build a “capable” government which will adopt a “proactive” approach to Macau’s economic development and as well as to make greater contributions to the nation’s ongoing development drive. He also promised to improve the population’s well-being in various aspects, such as education, healthcare, transport, and senior citizens’ retirement. He described his election as chief executive as “the highest honour of my life.”
Being the MSAR’s chief executive is, indubitably, the greatest honour that a local citizen can achieve. But it will, I have no doubt, also be a mammoth task, considering the complexities and intricacies of Macau’s socio-economic conditions.
The point is that present-day Macau is both an international metropolis but still also a town and even, as far as its rather distinct neighbourhoods are concerned, a village. It depends how one looks at local society. In the national context, Macau is a rather small city, both in terms of size and population. But unlike other Chinese cities, Macau is, due to its past and present, a world city whose financial prowess exceeds its minute geographic dimension of 33.3 km2, accounting for 0.00034 percent of China’s total land area of 9.6 million km2. The MSAR enjoys one of the world’s highest GDPs per capita and fiscal reserves of around 600 billion patacas (that’s, just to make the figure a bit more impressive, 0.6 trillion patacas, or around US$75 billion) – and no public debt to boot, something that globally is virtually unheard of.
Despite all that, as one would expect, Macau has its specific problems and issues that need to be tackled, some of them as soon as possible, such as its embarrassing public transport and traffic conundrum that affects locals and visitors alike. It’s simply ridiculous that the simple task of flagging down a taxi has become something like trying to hit the jackpot in Macau. Urban renewal is another challenge, namely if the government wants to succeed in its much-talked-about aim of developing community-based tourism. Last year, I walked from a meeting in Ilha Verde to our newspaper office near the city’s main square, Largo do Senado, because – no surprise – I wasn’t able to hail a taxi but then, while walking, I grew more and more eager to see the neighbourhoods I was crossing. Well, I was rather shocked by the dilapidated state of many residential buildings – walks-up in particular – and run-down alleys (which, actually, have the potential to be renovated into charming quarters), some even right in the city centre near our office on Rua dos Mercadores.
These are just two festering sores that need the incoming administration’s intensive attention.
Another challenge is to advance Macau’s integration into the Greater Bay Area (GBA), including the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, in a way that local people feel it benefits them. Sam was right when he underlined the need to tackle the economic challenges resulting from the drastically changing consumption and travel patterns by mainlanders and locals that are affecting the local economy.
After observing Sam’s deportment and hearing his remarks over the past few weeks, and also after reading our reporters’ many articles about his election manifesto, themed “Endeavour, Solidarity, Persistence and Innovation” (according to our translation from the original Chinese version) and campaign activities, I am confident that he will prove a very worthy successor to Ho Iat Seng who, I would like to stress, was able to keep Macau pretty safe during the three-year COVID-19 pandemic, also thanks to his close cooperation with the Central People’s Government on the public health front.
In this vein, I expect Sam to continue seeking assistance from the Central People’s Government Liaison Office and Foreign Ministry Commission here in overcoming Macau’s various predicaments. Close cooperation with the mainland authorities does not do any harm to Macau’s high degree of autonomy – much to the contrary, I believe it helps further develop it.
Sam is slated to receive his CE appointment letter from Premier Li Qiang quite soon, when he will become Macau’s chief executive-designate until his swearing-in on December 20, which will coincide with the 25th Anniversary of the establishment of the MSAR and the expected visit by one of the nation’s most senior leaders.
– Harald Brüning
*https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0150989
