Worse than a government with no ideas, is a government with no ideas and a lot of money. Unfortunately, that’s where things seem to be heading in Macau.

The situation started to get worrying during Edmund Ho Hau Wah’s last years as chief executive. Launching the cash handout and health care voucher programmes were clear signs that there was a lack of new ideas among Macau’s top leadership.

An optimistic chap would say that was only natural. After all, for better or for worse, Mr Ho successfully led the Macau SAR through its first challenging years, ensuring a smooth transition. It was only natural that he should start to get tired. Nevertheless, literally throwing money at people seemed like the kind of cheap move someone such as Mr Ho, widely known for his capacity to bridge consensus and work out behind-the-scenes solutions, wouldn’t do.

Expectations were low when Fernando Chui Sai On was sworn in as the second chief executive. Based mostly on the team left by Mr Ho, his executive was initially regarded as a sign of continuity with the recent past.

After a half-year at the helm, if Mr Chui has delivered positive signs in areas such as culture and healthcare, other areas – the economy, finance and property – seem to be affected by a deficit of new ideas. The guiding principle seems to be, if you don’t know what to do, just keep on delaying any action.

There was worse to come last month when the government announced it had frozen all projects in the Praia Grande Bay reclamation area for another purpose that has not been made clear. It plans to ask the public for their opinion and build a “wall of ideas” – a juvenile sounding idea.

Being elected by a small circle of people, maybe Mr Chui sees these consultations as ways of legitimising his power and decisions. It is not working. His consultations are not proper opinion polls and the way the government compiles its results is less than transparent.

Please don’t misread these lines. We are not suggesting the government should stop listening to the people, quite the opposite. The government must listen to the public but first it should put forward its own proposals and ideas. That is the difference between a manager and a leader.

Some developers have waited for years to get the go-ahead in the Praia Grande Bay reclamation area, despite the fact that the government has never expressly told them “no”. Freezing everything and proposing no alternative emphasises that Mr Chui lacks strategic vision.

Building “a harmonious society”, “Macau ruled by Macau’s people” or promoting the one country, two systems policy are empty slogans used repeatedly by Macau’s leadership. They are not political strategy in stricto sensu.

What the territory lacks is strategic thinking. We have a set of new land reclamation projects coming but we are still deciding what to do with Praia Grande Bay that was finished almost 15 years ago.

On the peninsula, we have had an empty building in Tap Seac Square for a couple of years already. It cost millions but the government was willing to spend more than MOP60 million on an exhibition hall just for the light railway project, in a remote area of the territory.

We want to bring in more foreign tourists but we have no clear plan regarding the future of Macau’s aviation sector. These are just a few examples in areas essential to Macau’s development.

The big losers are the people of Macau. As noted in a study from the Monetary Authority published last month, the bottlenecks in the economy that are created by a lack of strategy are the main reasons for rising inflation in Macau – not the yuan’s appreciation, as many would conveniently have us believe, including the Secretary for Finance and Economy.

After the golden boom brought on by the liberalisation of the gaming industry, Macau has entered a new stage. In a crowed city such as ours, money itself is no longer enough.

We need a strong leadership that sets
a route for the future, not one that navigates according to where the wind blows at any moment. To the staff at Government Headquarters, please put your thinking hats on.