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Fox Yi Hu

The amount of cash the Macau government will hand out is the talk of the town ahead of the first policy address to be delivered by Dr Fernando Chui Sai-on,  who became chief executive on December 20.
Macau may extend its two-year tradition of a cash giveaway even when governments around the world are considering how to unwind stimulus measures, analysts say.
'The policy of doling out cash works in Macau although I am not in favour of such an approach,' veteran Macau observer Camoes Tam Chi-keung  said. 'Protests were often big before the government handed out cash but only a small number of people took to the streets after receiving cash bonuses.'
The egalitarian policy of a cash bonus for everyone has little to do with spurring economic growth in Macau, the world's biggest and growing gambling hub.
Such a method of wealth-sharing helps please the masses embittered by their inability to benefit from Macau's robust growth, analysts say.
Chui will deliver the policy address in the legislature tomorrow,  when residents will compare his possible cash handout with those given by his predecessor, Edmund Ho Hau-wah,  in 2008 and last year.
Other key policies expected from the new leader include an increase in public housing flats, building  a hospital on Taipa Island, and measures to ease traffic jams.
Legislator Jose Coutinho  said this year's cash bonuses would probably be no less than the 6,000 patacas for each permanent resident and 3,600 patacas for each non-permanent resident last year.
'Cash bonuses are necessary painkillers for Macau residents as the new chief executive still needs time to address social ills,' Coutinho said.
Ho first announced a 2.6-billion-pataca cash bonus scheme in April 2008, with 5,000 patacas for each permanent resident and 3,000 patacas for each non-permanent resident.
The scheme was launched after 6,000 people staged a violent protest on May 1, 2007 against corruption, excessive labour imports and a widening wealth gap. Dozens of police officers and demonstrators were injured in clashes and a motorcyclist was hit by a bullet after an officer fired shots into the air.
Residents who felt they had been excluded from  the benefits of a casino boom also took to the streets in December that year.
A massive graft scandal fuelled social discontent, strengthening the case for cash sweeteners. In April last year, former secretary for transport and public works Ao Man-long was jailed for 28 years and six months on 81 counts of bribe-taking, money laundering and other crimes involving hundreds of millions of patacas. 
Even so, Tam said the government should focus on addressing social ills rather than relying on cash giveaways. 'The government had better build more public housing flats and speed up the building of a rail link,' he said.
Coutinho said it was imperative for the new leader to launch electoral reforms to give Macau residents greater democracy.
Macau's cash bonus scheme left some Hong Kong residents envious  and sparked a rush in Hongkongers applying for Macau residency.
In 2008 and last year, more than 16,000 Hong Kong residents applied for Macau residency, compared with 14,000 Hong Kong applicants in the eight years ending in 2007,  figures from the Macau Identification Bureau  show. These excluded people who applied for residency through investment or family reunions.



Chui tipped to continue Macau cash handouts