REFLECTING on the recent fifth Legislative Assembly (AL) election, one
can conclude that the winners were the candidates that maintained their
political activities in the period in between elections.
The biggest
of the winners, Chan Meng Kam (whose list won over 26,000 votes and
elected three candidates), has an office open to residents’ concerns, as
well as being a lawmaker. Coming from the Fujian community, he is said
to have worked closely with Chinese President Xi Jinping. His interests
range from casinos to universities and he is seen as a self made man and
an entrepreneur, both respected things in Chinese culture.
Other
candidates who obtained good results in the election have worked
continuously within and beyond the associations where they get most of
their electoral support. This is case with Ho Ion Sang’s (15,815 votes)
activities in the General Union of the Neighborhood Associations (also
known as “Kai Fong”) and with Pereira Coutinho’s (13,119 votes) work in
the Macau Civil Servants Association (ATFPM). Mak Soi Kun (16,251 votes)
is also an active lawmaker who was able to say things like this to his
supporters without blushing: “I remember in the previous election, I had
promised voters that I would fight for their benefits, and that we
would not be afraid of upsetting the bigwigs. We have fulfilled that
promise.”
Candidates who were politically absent during the last four
years (like the well-intentioned Agnes Lam - 5,225 votes - and Paul Pun
- 2,306 votes) found disappointing results. Agnes Lam could almost
certainly have been elected if she hadn’t been “missing in action”
between elections.
But not all of the most politically active
candidates won. In this respect, the biggest loser was certainly Jason
Chao (3,227 votes). The New Macau Association President is often
involved in controversies (like when he was expelled from the AL during a
protest against the electoral laws vote or when he was detained during
the visit to Macau of the then Chairman of the National People’s
Congress, Wu Bangguo). He also raised numerous sensitive issues (the
most recent concerning Edmund Ho’s role in the gaming sub-concessions)
and that’s why he gets (or at least got) a lot of coverage in the
non-Chinese local media. Jason Chao’s electoral failure is not only
political. The local electorate sees his position as too radical and he
seems to have failed to convince even the youngest voters.
The
debate during the campaign was poorly conducted. The political platforms
are full of platitudes, such proposing to fight against vested
interests, making government officials more accountable, a better
healthcare system, improved public transport, the diversification of
industry, a better education system and more effort put towards
protecting the environment.
These are common goals in any society,
but the candidates failed to explain how they intend to achieve them. It
is difficult for them to produce a political program, since the posts
for which they are running will not contribute to form the government
that rules the region. The scope of their mandates is limited and, since
there are no political parties, they can’t afford the expertise
required to elaborate on a complex political program. But they could, at
least, try to make an in depth analysis of some relevant issue (let’s
say, housing) and present relevant proposals that could be voted upon in
the AL. As the Times contributing editor Eric Sautedé puts it, seems
that “you need to keep it extremely simple for the elections.”
Another
notable thing about the election is the low voting turnout. In
percentage terms, fewer people voted than in 2009. This demands
reflection. I guess that people don’t care about voting it they feel
that the election outcome is indifferent to them or, even worse, that
it’s a mockery.
Adding to this impression, many candidates didn’t
hesitate in distributing money and gifts to voters, giving the view (at
least) that votes are bought and sold in Macau. When confronted with
their actions, many of the candidates revealed a disregard for
democracy. Let’s take, for example, Mak Soi Kun’s answer to a TDM forum
on why he included gifts worth of 300 and 600MOP along with his photo
during the election campaign: “We respect elderly people. Now we get
comments on the good deeds we’ve done. Would it better of we hadn’t done
it? People just see this as a problem. I’ve nothing to hide. After I
got elected I went to distribute moon cakes as a way of paying respect
to the elderly. My conscience is clear.”
(by PB,
in MDT)
Etiquetas: Crónica
