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). 
 
¶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