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Chloe Lai

Macau Chief Executive Dr Fernando Chui Sai-on yesterday delivered a policy address full of crowd-pleasing giveaways worth 500 million patacas. 
The bumper giveaways - a continuation of past practice by the administration - were announced after Premier Wen Jiabao's  call on the government to take care of the people, especially the poor. 
But critics said Chui failed to address what Wen had said most needed to be done - speeding up public housing construction. There was no mention of political reform.
Every Macau resident who is in the central provident fund will receive an  injection of 6,000 patacas to their account. Chui said the one-off benefit was  needed to help people fight inflation.  In his previous policy address, he put 10,000 patacas into  residents' provident accounts.  
In addition, Chui continues to hand out  cash bonuses - first instituted by his predecessor, Edmund Ho Hau-wah, in 2008. 
The cash handouts will cover nearly all Macau residents  - 1,500 patacas for every student, 5,000 patacas for every elderly person and 4,000 patacas for every permanent resident. 
Even non-permanent residents will each get 2,400 patacas. There is also a 500 pataca medical voucher for nearly everyone living in Macau. 
 The amounts are smaller than people have received previously. In the March policy address, each permanent resident received 6,000 patacas and a non-permanent resident had 3,600 patacas.
On the housing front, Chui repeated his previous commitment to build 19,000 public flats by 2012. The government will study the possibility of  helping first-time buyers who cannot afford property in the private market. 'Up to 72 per cent of  Macau residents own properties; the government must be careful on the housing policy,'  he said.
Pro-democracy legislator Antonio Ng Kuok-cheong   called the speech a disappointment since Chiu announced no progress  on political reform, building public flats  or closing the rich-poor gap.   'The government is getting richer and richer.  But the people's share in gaming income is smaller and smaller. It is  disappointing that he doesn't even have a commitment to how long people have to wait to get public housing.'
Fellow legislator Kwan Tsui-hang, a Beijing loyalist, said the government was changing the type of handouts given, from cash bonuses to retirement protection.  
Chui also extended a 25 per cent salaries tax reduction, while civil servants will get a 5 per cent pay rise. 
Jose Coutinho, a civil servant turned legislator, said the government should have a mechanism for reviewing civil service salaries rather than make random pay adjustments. The last pay rise was in 2008. 
No word was said about opening up the political system for more democratic participation. Chui defended the absence of democratisation on the grounds that Macau was different from Hong Kong.
During his two-day visit, Wen  said people were worried about rising prices, especially of  property.  He said the city's administration must speed up the construction of public housing and public transport infrastructure, invest in education and human resources, diversify the economy and regulate the gaming industry. 
After Wen admonished the city's ruling elite, Macau  revised the cap on the number of gambling tables. The limit, now set at 5,500 tables until 2013, will grow 3 to 5 per cent a year after 2013. The city has 4,838 tables. Casino revenue was boosted by the  National Day holiday to  a record 18.87 billion patacas, up 49.8 per cent from a year ago and 23.3 per cent from September,  the Gaming Inspection and Co-ordination Bureau  said. Income from gaming was 152 billion patacas in the first 10 months of this year, a 59 per cent year-on-year rise.
The great handout
 5,000 patacas for every elderly person;
 4,000 patacas for permanent residents;
 2,400 patacas for non-permanent;
 1,500 patacas for students with Macau identity cards;
 6,000 patacas for every central provident fund account; 
 25 per cent tax reduction;
 Medical voucher worth 500 patacas for all permanent residents;
 Rent subsidies for low income families awaiting public housing; and 
 Pay rise for civil servants.



Macau gives out more handouts but no vision