Editor's note
RECIPES FOR A HAPPIER 2009
The media love defining moments in history in order to humanize what otherwise would be too big to understand in one single shot.
The announcement that the Lehman Brothers bank (one of the oldest in America) had filed for bankruptcy protection on September 15, was one of those moments.
Exactly two months later, on November 15, Macau had what I consider to be our “Lehman Brothers moment” when Sands president for Asia Stephen Weaver, announced the lay-off of 11000 workers at the Venetian, following the suspension of their expansion projects due to financial problems, while still promising to secure the jobs of some of the 2000 local employees.
I am not sure if this will be registered in Macau’s history books as deeply relevant, as I suspect that more lay-offs are in store, not only at Las Vegas Sands but also at other casino operators (the Galaxy already laid-off 270 workers in July, promising later to absorb them into the group’s development on Cotai, delayed now to 2010).
But this was an important mark because the Venetian is a giant, both in the good and bad moments. It was also a warning about fast growth without checking the
warning signals. It’s true that the Venetian is suffering from the lack of credit that has swept the whole world. But I can’t stop thinking when I am driving around Cotai, that today there’s a lot more wishful thinking than facts from allegedly solid reports, to sustain the growth and indeed the very existence of the Strip. Even the certainty of having the biggest market in the world two hours away, has stopped echoing with the same insistence in the executives’ speeches.
The successive visa restrictions have shown the obvious reliance on the mainland market in order to generate the local casinos’ big profits. So a few lessons should be drawn from 2008 to make 2009 less gloomy than expected:
1 - Macau definitely has to stop depending totally on the Mainland and start attracting other markets and other types of visitors who will consider historic tours, fine dining and entertainment attractive, besides the obvious gambling, especially if the visa restrictions are to continue;
2 - When Legislators like Pro-Labour Sector Leong Yok Va say at the Legislative Assembly that qualified executives cannot stay in Macau forever, and New Democratic Macau’s Au Kam San declares that the new immigrants are “a danger”, I cannot but regret the lack of vision and downright pathetic stand of some of our representatives. Danger to whom? To local workers that won’t be able to fill all the positions required because they simply don’t exist?
It’s commendable to set up courses to form or develop the local labour force’s skills. But it’s not enough! And frankly it is a bit too late to question the business model chosen for Macau, which, despite the hard times, is far from being a failure. To single out a group of people, especially professionals who were in its vast majority legally employed, as “a danger”, reminisces dark periods in the recent world history of which we all know the outcome. That one of the more prominent voices in the local democratic movement is responsible for this xenophobic comment just shows the moral calibre of Mr. Au, or rather, the total lack of it. He involuntarily did us a favour, deserving to be named and shamed.
3 - Chief Executive Edmund Ho speaks of social enterprises as a way out of the crisis. If this means a revitalised city with small restaurants and businesses filling the centre of town, and subjected to acceptable rents and able to hire workers more expeditiously than before, then I am all for it.
All in all, I don’t necessarily see 2009 fatally hit by bad karma.
Local hotelier Michael Ziemer says in this issue that the current crisis is a reality check. I agree and if that means slower but more sustainable growth for Macau, then I’ll toast to that! On behalf of the Closer team, I wish you a Happy New Year!