Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09HONGKONG2171
2009-11-25 09:47:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Hong Kong
Cable title:  

THIRD MACAU ADMINISTRATION: ALL THE OLD FAMILIAR

Tags:  PGOV PHUM PINR MC 
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VZCZCXRO8195
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHHK #2171/01 3290947
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 250947Z NOV 09
FM AMCONSUL HONG KONG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9047
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HONG KONG 002171 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM; ALSO FOR DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/24/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR MC
SUBJECT: THIRD MACAU ADMINISTRATION: ALL THE OLD FAMILIAR
FACES

REF: (A) HONG KONG 1807 (B) HONG KONG 983

Classified By: Acting Consul General Christopher Marut for reasons 1.4(
b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HONG KONG 002171

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EAP/CM; ALSO FOR DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/24/2019
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR MC
SUBJECT: THIRD MACAU ADMINISTRATION: ALL THE OLD FAMILIAR
FACES

REF: (A) HONG KONG 1807 (B) HONG KONG 983

Classified By: Acting Consul General Christopher Marut for reasons 1.4(
b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Fernando Chui Sai-on will not merely assume
Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah's job December 20, he'll
largely inherit his government. Of Macau's ten senior
positions, only three will change -- former anti-corruption
chief Cheong U will take Chui's Social Affairs and Culture
portfolio (being himself replaced by Court of Second Instance
Justice Vasco Fong Man-chong),while Ho's chef de cabinet Ho
Weng-on will replace Commissioner of Audit Fatima Choi
Mei-lei. Choi's successes in ferreting out waste and
corruption, including uncovering cost overruns in the 2005
East Asian Games honchoed by Chui, cast an air of suspicion
over Chui's decision to drop her. Meanwhile, although the
2009 Legislative Assembly elections were credited with
shaking the formerly apathetic Macau citizenry out of their
torpor, scholars could not point to a particular demographic
or political camp that has gained significant momentum as a
result. End summary.

--------------
The Throng Remains the Same
--------------


2. (C) After considerable press speculation about expanding
the number of cabinet portfolios, Macau has (perhaps not
surprisingly) opted for the status quo. The roster approved
by the State Council November 24 (and which will take office
with Chui December 20) includes most of Edmund Ho's cabinet:

-- Secretary for Administration and Justice -- Florinda da
Rosa Silva CHAN (incumbent)
-- Secretary for Economics and Finance -- Francis TAM
Pak-yuen (incumbent)
-- Secretary for Security -- CHEONG Kuoc-va (incumbent)
-- Secretary for Transportation and Public Works -- LAU Si-io
(incumbent; replaced the now-imprisoned Ao Man-long in
February 2007)
-- Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture -- CHEONG U
(former Commissioner Against Corruption)
-- Prosecutor General -- HO Chio-meng (incumbent)
-- Commissioner of Audit -- HO Veng-on (former chef de
cabinet for Edmund Ho)
-- Commissioner Against Corruption -- Vasco FONG Man-chong
(former Justice of the Court of Second Instance)

-- Commissioner General of the Unitary Police Service -- Jose
Proenca BRANCO (incumbent)
-- Director-General of Macau Customs -- CHOI Lai-hang
(incumbent)

(Note: the Legislative Assembly elects its president without
reference to Beijing (in 2009, selecting LAU Cheok-va to
replace the retiring Susana CHOU Kei-jan),while the
President of the Court of Final Appeal (SAM Hou-fai) does not
change with administrations. End note.)


3. (C) Continuity has clearly trumped all other
considerations. Although her personal integrity was never
questioned, Florinda Chan was viewed by many as ineffectual
and as more of an adjutant to Ho. Francis Tam, who we had
thought was likely to move to the Macau Foundation (ref B),
and Ho Chio-meng were both tipped as potential competitors to
Chui for the Chief Executiveship, although neither ultimately
entered the race; Ho Chio-meng's popularity far outstrips
Chui's. In past, contacts had suggested Edmund Ho's cabinet
might stay in office simply due to a lack of talent at senior
levels. At a recent lunch with the Acting Consul General,
however, Macau Inter-University Institute scholar Eric
Sautede suggested that there was in fact no shortage of
people with subject-matter expertise who were actively
burnishing the requisite "patriotic" credentials. The issue,
Sautede ventured, was whether Macau's famously cliquish
establishment was willing to "cut more people in."


4. (C) That Fatima Choi will lose her job as Commissioner of
Audit (akin to the Government Accountability Office) has
raised eyebrows. Media are suggesting a connection with
Choi's uncovering a 1.4 billion pataca (USD 175 million) cost
overrun in the 2005 Macau East Asian Games, which were headed
up by Fernando Chui. While acknowledging that concern,
University of Macau scholar Eilo Yu suggested Chui's
objective might have been gracefully moving Ho Veng-on out of
the chef de cabinet position to bring in his own person, and
that the Choi issue was unintended collateral damage. "I
have to stress that I respected her personal will," Chui told
the press, implying the decision to step down was Choi's.
Choi herself conceded to the press she had discussed whether

HONG KONG 00002171 002 OF 002


the Commission of Audit needed "new blood," but denied that
she had proposed stepping down or that she and Chui had
discussed seriously her departure. A career civil servant
not yet at retirement age, Choi is eligible (and clearly
seems to expect) reassignment.


5. (C) A lesser buzz has surrounded Vasco Fong's appointment
as Commissioner Against Corruption. Fong's sister, Fong
Mei-lin, was reportedly friendly with now-imprisoned former
Secretary for Transportation and Public Works Ao Man-long.
Media reported Ao gave Fong Mei-lin "luxury gifts" including
a Tiffany diamond worth 290,000 patacas (over USD 36,000).
Fong Mei-lin later testified at Ao's trial. Vasco Fong
acknowledged the link, but stressed that Macau had laws "to
prevent conflict of interest." Despite both these issues,
Chui emphasized that "efforts to fight corruption" and
"sunshine government" would be cornerstones of his
administration's policy.


6. (C) No change in personnel seems to presage no change in
core government policies for at least the near term.
Speaking with the Acting Consul General November 20, new
Legislative Assembly Vice President (and National People's
Congress Standing Committee Member) Ho Iat-seng consciously
chose "stable" (wending) over "good" (hao) to describe both
the incumbent government and the coming transition.

--------------
Looking Out for Number One
--------------


7. (C) In the runup to the September Legislative Assembly
elections (ref A),Macau seemed to be shaking off its former
political apathy, with greater political debate particularly
in cyberspace and new political movements pushing for
democratic reform. When the smoke cleared, however, scholars
suggested little had changed. Neither IIUM's Sautede nor ERS
e-Research pollster Angus Cheong Weng-hin could point to any
single demographic that appeared more energized following the
elections. Youth mobilization in particular proved
disappointing: Sautede reported only one of the students in
his first-year political science course had actually voted.
Cheong told the Acting Consul General that individuals from a
range of social sectors and age groups might have chosen this
moment to get involved, but the motivation was likely either
a demand for better governance (which crossed political party
lines) or to protect individual vested interests. Looking at
the New Macau Association, the only pro-democracy faction to
come out ahead in the elections, Cheong suggested their core
support was not youth motivated by democratic ambitions but
emigres in their 40s and 50s who had suffered repression on
the Mainland and wanted something better.
MARUT