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So far, the reform roadmap has only achieved limited results in the areas of government restructuring, policy-making training, and improvement in efficiency. Most of the reform goals are either postponed or completely ignored. As regarding SAR political and administrative restructuring, no actions are taken, and no timetable for restructuring, much to the chagrin of Macau citizens. Concerning major reform measures of anti-corruption and official responsibility systems, citizens witness no detailed regulations, only slogans. Right from the start, many citizens raised questions about this roadmap. Many observers have adopted a wait-and-see attitude as no concrete measures have been published yet. Some legislators are suspicious that the program seems to be just old wine in a new bottle. For example, over the last few years, the Macao SAR government hoped to establish an official responsibility system, but without a detailed plan to accomplish this task. However, this issue is again incorporated into the new roadmap and one legislator questioned whether it is a delaying technique.16
Many scholars question how these objectives can be reached without detailed measures, regulations, and priorities. The speed is slow and many reform measures have fallen to empty slogans. For example, there is no systematic search on institutional rearrangement in the Macao SAR government. Most civil servants complain of a grave disparity of workload between bureaus, or even within bureaus. Some civil servants work till midnight while others can be ready for home after 5:00 p.m. A major structural overhaul remains an urgent necessity. Owing to the enormity of the tasks ahead, it is an absolute necessity to have a strategic plan in this respect, figuring out the priority in major government reform measures. Some commentators raised the suggestion that reforms must be carried out in an orderly way. “Roadmap is a large-scale reform project with 34 items including many aspects of public administration. The working load in the future must be enormous. These reform measures are quite important. However, in consideration of Macao public administration, which is weak in education and poor in public policy capacities, it is difficult to image an all-round revolution in the Macao Government. To avoid chaos and low morale, it is logical that all reform items should be carried out in an orderly way, first core reform items, then peripheral reform measures, priority is key to this roadmap.”17 Citizens demand that anticorruption measures have to be regulated in economic activity and there is an urgent need for civil servants to raise their policy-making capacities in a short time.
The main contents of the reform roadmap were professionally edited by civil servants in the bureau of civil service affairs who are determined to push forward the reform measures. Most of the reform measures are crucial to Macao and if reformed successfully, will impact positively on Macao economic development. However, the development in the last two years has shown that it is not possible to realize such a substantial reform program in a limited time. If the SAR government had been able to carry out the roadmap at the beginning of the chief executive’s first term or at least at the beginning of his second term (2004), then the present situation in 2009 would have been more favorable. But 2009 is also the transitional year for the new Macao chief executive, and people seem to forget the existence of this extensive program. It is not possible to raise the policy-making capacities of high-level officials in such a short time, but structural reforms need careful thinking and evaluation. Many legislators and media commentators are correct in pointing out the reasons to implement these reforms in an orderly way. This author believes that several key issues in the Macao public administration must be given priority and their implementation could boost the morale of the local civil service and pave the way for further reforms in other areas. Actions speak louder than
16Macao Daily, July 27, 2007.
17New Youth Association, “Administrative reforms must be carried out in an orderly way,” Macao Daily, July 16, 2007, p. 2.
©2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC
History and Context of Public Administration in Macao 471
words. Macao citizens hope to witness more real reform measures than beautiful slogans. Several key reform measures are needed in the processes of improving governance and efficiency.
First, concerns about anti-corruption and prevention of abuse of power remain important. In the third-term chief executive election, citizens have raised hope that the new chief executive will make all efforts to eradicate severe corruption, to eliminate the invisible links between government officials and local businesses. As a small enclave, a few major policies are to be considered extremely important. First, public policy on land sale in the Macao property market needs to be revised immediately. It is generally held that land acquisition in Macao is the biggest source of corruption in Macao. The former secretary for Transport and Public Works, Ao Man-long, acquired billions of patacas through land allocation. On May 1 and October 1 demonstrations from 2005 to 2010, all demonstrators, from construction workers to low-ranking civil servants, and children’s right of abode seekerspeople with various demands were all blaming corruption for their plight.18 For example, construction workers blame that government officials, in collusion with big businesses, introduce too many Mainland workers at construction sites and that local workers lost their jobs. This is a key area of reform. If the present policy of land allocation continues to dominate the property market, citizens will further doubt the sincerity of the Macao government in promoting good governance, and other reform measures will lose their positive impact and will be considered camouflage for corruption plots within the government. If Macao continues this policy, anti-corruption could become a laughing stock again. As land prices rise sharply along with the property boom, the monetary values involved could be billions of US dollars and the temptation of official business collusion is mounting.
Macao’s law on legislative elections will probably need to be revised systematically to prevent the serious corruption that erupted in the last legislative election, which tainted Macao’s image of clean government and left citizens with an image of injustice and unfairness.19 In the 2005 election, media revealed that a number of organizations hosted “private banquets” to entertain voters at some major restaurants and they transported the voters to the polling stations by buses.20 A candidate (Lei Kin Ion) discovered that the staff of SJM (sociedade de Jogos de Macao, a major gambling company) were being brought to voting stations in a company bus. He intended to stop the bus by standing in its way, but he was dragged away.21 In addition, a candidate named Wong Cheong Nam, was attacked because of his claim of suspected corruption. Police arrested three suspects in this case.22 It was also reported that a journalist was hit while investigating a possibly corrupt candidate.23 Macao’s anti-corruption body, the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC), arrested over 700 suspects involved in numerous cases of electoral corruption, but less than 10 people were sent to prison. In general, the widespread corruption cases distorted Macao society and sent a very negative image of Macao worldwide. If detailed regulation could be framed to stem scandals of ballot buying and all kinds of bizarre behaviors leading to unfair ballot results, this could serve as a vivid example of Macao’s determination in its anti-corruption campaign. The recent legislative election was held in 2009. The media reported less severe cases of ballot-buying thanks to the revision of election law in 2008. However, organized voting behavior by big businesses and social organizations is still prevalent in Macau society.
18SCMP, May 6, 2007, p. 11.
19In the last Legislative Council election, the Macao media reported many cases of serious corruption, including ballot buying and organized voting misbehavior.
20Oriental Daily, September 26, 2008, p. A28.
21Sing Pao Daily News, September 26, 2005, p. A09.
22Sing Pao Daily News, September 26, 2005, p. A09.
23The Sun, September 26, 2005, p. A08.
©2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC