The lack of competence from top government officials doesn’t surprise me anymore. I’m used to it. But I do still worry and feel nervous when I witness so many wasted opportunities.

There is money that could be invested in basic infrastructure or sustainable development but it isn’t. Instead it is left sitting in dusty vaults because there is seldom a worthy idea, enough courage or a hint of intelligence.

Like I said, I struggle with attacks of nerves but I no longer suffer from tachycardia.

What really irritates me is the nerve of people who think we are a bunch of gullible sheep, willing to swallow the next fable without complaint.

For example, take the interview with Labour Affairs Bureau director Shuen Ka Hung published by the Macau Daily Times last month. Mr Shuen dismissed any hope of laws to permit the establishment of trade unions or regulate strikes. He said both rights were already safeguarded by the Basic Law.

If a candidate for a bachelor’s degree in law had answered in such a fashion, dismissal from university would have been the only option. But since he is an official – and one that often provides us with this kind of entertainment – life goes on as if nothing happened. This impunity – or is it irresponsibility – is becoming an unpleasant routine.

It is true that the right to strike and the possibility to create a trade union is contained within the Basic Law, our mini-constitution, but those matters need to be regulated in order for them to become feasible.

We need political will. The members of the Legislative Assembly should be ashamed of themselves and should stop voting against repeated attempts to regulate the establishment of unions.

Why do they insist on voting down the feeble attempts that have graced the floor? Mr Shuen could provide an explanation but I don’t think he will. So, I’m happy to offer an explanation on his behalf.

The vast majority of legislators are businessmen. Allowing workers to exercise their rights would create problems inside their companies. It is natural that they would oppose any such moves.

If we had a democratic regime and each legislator had to win votes from the electorate, it would be a different story.

It is clearly advantageous from the bosses’ perspective to have workers’ associations dependent on subsidies and other perks from the government. Can you imagine the headaches if they were independent and legally regulated?

It shouldn’t come as any surprise to hear the president of the Legislative Assembly say it is not the right moment to have the government-owned, free-to-air television station broadcast the legislators’ debates.

Naturally, the denial has nothing to do with the “afternoon naps” that some legislators insist on taking during sessions, or with some of the nonsense they may say. Why would they change when there is no need to legitimise their opinions against a popular vote.

Televising debates would also throw up some interesting political puzzles.

According to the Basic Law, Chinese is the official language. So, which flavour would we use? Would it be Mandarin, the language that unites the mainland, or Cantonese, the dialect that is traditionally spoken here?

“Not opportune” is the opportune answer. The lack of political courage provides opportunities such as this one.

It’s a jungle

If there were a little shame and civility in Macau, non-resident workers would not be exploited the way they are. They might be permitted to quit one job to find another, no matter the reason and without a six-month wait, unlike the current miserable law dictates.

It is true the law says an employee fired without just cause need not wait six months but they must still prove that their boss had no lawful motive to kick them out.

A worker with limited finances is unlikely to have the means to uphold his or her rights, and it is that lack of resources which leaves them at the mercy of less scrupulous bosses.

This is a law which exists in a city that claims to be civilized, multicultural and open.

It shames us all.

In a city where people talk about “losing face”, what “face” or honour can there be in exploiting the weak? This, ladies and gentlemen, is not capitalism. This is pure savagery.

Oops, they’ve done it again

One of the most peculiar cases of the past month has been the earful the Polytechnic Institute got from the Commission Against Corruption. According to the graft buster, the institute has serious deficiencies in regulating its internal structures.

Similar problems could surely be found in other public bodies, particularly those which enjoy financial autonomy from the government. I suspect there would not be enough manpower to take on the inquiries.

What is curious about this whole affair is that the apparent wrongdoings stem from the lack of a much-needed revision of the institute’s statutes. The institute itself swears it has been trying to do so since 2003 but has been unsuccessful in winning government approval.

The government, which is now correctly censoring the institute in the wake of the report, is once again the victim of its own inaction.

Where have we seen this story before?

Speeding budget

What could I possibly say about last month’s Commission of Audit report on the first phase of the light rail transit system, a project managed by the Transportation Infrastructure Office?

Major construction has not yet begun and a project that was initially budgeted to cost just over MOP4 billion (US$500 million) is already estimated at twice that amount.

There is more to come too. Some major goods and services contracts in the project were initially budgeted to cost zero patacas.

Perhaps I’m paranoid, and I might be mistaken, but I believe this story is going to have a very unhappy ending.

I’m not too concerned about the apparent inability of the transportation office to do its job properly, but I do worry about what can be done to avoid these not-so unusual budgeting mistakes from being repeated.

With an alarmingly high number of cases that have caused concern in the past month – from Mr Shuen’s blunders to reports from the audit commission and the graft buster – could it be a sign that we are sailing blind?

Paulo A. Azevedo
Founder and Publisher
pazevedo@maucaubusiness.com