Macau Opinion | Perhaps Atticus Finch?

First of all, I trust this is good news as in his/her essence a lawyer should always favour pluralism and democracy. That said, as long as a fellow member of our Association has the legal requirements to run for presidency, one should applaud his/her attitude and courage.

As far as I could ascertain from the press, Sergio de Almeida Correia declared in his manifesto to be committed to his responsibilities with thoroughness, competence and transparency, which in fact are the key values of those who practise advocacy in Macau or any other jurisdiction in the world. From his manifesto I emphasise the part in which he wrote “the values of advocacy can only be adequately pursued when the profession is exercised independently. When the lawyer is able to free himself from the shackles of economic subservience and political subservience, behaving with decency and transparency before the conflicting interests that require his intervention”. Atticus Finch, the fictional character in Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird couldn’t have put it better.

However, I also read that in Sergio de Almeida Correia’s words it would be “necessary that the Macau Lawyers Association leaves the passive position in which it has been.” This is the part I start to disagree with my esteemed colleague moto campaign. I arrived in Macau in January 2007 and since then I have carefully followed the role and the public speeches and declarations of Jorge Neto Valente and what I first conclude about his role as President of the Macau Lawyers Association is that passivity cannot summarise his action on duty.

I see Jorge Neto Valente defending positions against the lack of quality of judgement decisions, I remember hearing him criticise legal reforms projects such as the criminal code and others; I also recall him criticising Court and Government decisions with respect to several different topics and for these reasons I don’t trust that passivity or lack of opinion may be one of the defects to stress when characterising his role as President. Of course I do not subscribe to all measures and positions Jorge Neto Valente took during his several mandates, but passivity would never be the word to choose if I had to define his leadership.

One of the things that can call one’s attention with respect to Jorge Neto Valente’s presidency is his long tenure in the role. Nevertheless, I trust he delivered as best as he could and I trust he often did it as best as possible. Some people say “never change a winning team”; well, I prefer to ask why should we change a winning team if it keeps delivering and being freely elected by the will of its peers?

To the extent of my knowledge the Articles of the Macau Lawyers Association do not incorporate a mandate cap clause – which means eligible lawyers are free to run and to be elected as many times as their peers decide to vote in their favour. If for any reason my fellow associates decide that a mandate cap should be included – I may inclusively support that – then I think a proper discussion should be opened and if the majority of the associates decide in such manner an Articles of Association amendment process should subsequently be tabled.

On the other hand, I also note that those who criticise Jorge Neto Valente for assuming the presidency for too long never showed up to replace him during those years. It is true that he kept running but perhaps because there was no (credible and serious) alternative to replace him . . . who knows

If Jorge Neto Valente decides to run again and again, I will be happy for that. Moreover, if I agree with his manifesto I will not have any issues or prejudice supporting him for another term. During his years in the role I felt properly represented regardless of his age and the number of years he has been in the role. I believe that during all these years Jorge Neto Valente had the capacity and the energy to represent the profession and was eventually the most qualified person to understand the particulars and idiosyncrasies of this activity in Macau.

Perhaps Atticus Finch could have done it better . . . but oh, yes; Mr. Finch was just a fictional character . . .