The Chief Executive this year corrected the cold and distant posture with which he addressed the Portuguese community on 10 June last year. On that occasion, he arrived and left without saying a word to anyone; he delivered his speech in Chinese and, behind the scenes of the commemorations, gave the impression of being uncomfortable with details which, in his view, challenged his authority and political culture.
This time was different: from an institutional point of view, he emphasised the platform logic, investment there and here, and the importance of the community. He did so in Portuguese — alternating with Chinese — bringing to the Day of Camões the poetry of proximity and the semantics of integration. It is worth what it is worth, but it deserves a positive note.
The Consul-General of Portugal, for different reasons — even in the opposite direction — also did well. Because the poetry of integration clashes head-on with the semantics of residency: “Just as Portugal continues to welcome, with open arms, the professionals it needs in all areas, it makes sense for the Macao Special Administrative Region to evolve in its admission and residency rules, becoming more attractive to Portuguese people who wish to work, study and live here,” said Alexandre Leitão, with a clarity rarely found in diplomatic language.
The Minister of Education, however, came to set fire to community peace; in the wrong place, and on the day when it made the least sense. By announcing that the current director of the EPM, Acácio de Brito, is going to Luanda, he makes those who have just reappointed him for another three years lose face. Fernando Alexandre does not have the authority to appoint him, but he has the power to block the special leave for staff abroad. And he came here to use it; it must be said, with a certain lack of elegance and arrogance.
On Portugal Day, the minister was supposed to come and strengthen the community; and, while he was at it, support the consul’s political message. It was hardly a priority to intervene in village politicking
He makes Jorge Neto Valente and the trustees of the EPM Foundation lose face; he gives a stage to PSD friends and to the lobby of José Cesário and Hugo Soares — brokers of votes and business who spent their lives calling for the school director’s head. Acácio de Brito may not be perfect; in fact, he was indeed controversial, as anyone who challenges entrenched powers always is.
But now that he had proved himself, stabilised the school and built consensus, he is leaving by political decree. It is certainly not with the students, education or the community in mind; it is to make room for João Miguel Gonçalves, left hanging by the extinction of a directorate-general in Portugal.
Since the minister has no legal authority to appoint the school director, the bomb he came to drop may yet explode in his own hands. On the night of the long knives, it was being said openly that Neto Valente may well slam the door and leave the minister to pick up the pieces.
The Macao Government must be thinking that the Portuguese can only be mad. Whatever his reasons, and whatever rights he may have, on Portugal Day, with a speech scheduled precisely at the Portuguese School, the minister was supposed to come and strengthen the community; and, while he was at it, support the consul’s political message.
It was hardly a priority to intervene in village politicking; to divide the community and set the stage for Rita Santos to claim victory on social media: “Finally, they listened to the Portuguese in Macao.” That is not true; they did not listen, because that is not the voice of the Portuguese in Macao. Perhaps one day they may still have to listen.
