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problems in one way or another. According to Lam Chong, one consortium was known to have connections with the Partex Company in Portugal, which had recently been involved in a fraud case. Another consortium, the British MIAC, might have a conflict of interest as it had been involved in the airport projects when the former Governor was in office. One other short-listed consortium, which was a HK company, was bidding for a construction contract for the airport. Should its tender be successful, it could not be appointed as consultants.
On constitutional development, Lam Chong observed that the voting pattern in the enclave for Portugal's general election was in line with the election results, with most of the votes going to the winning party, the Social Democratic Party. He said that one of the reasons for the party's popularity in the enclave might be its proposal to amend the Constitution.
In another piece, Lam Chong said that the liberals in the enclave had been given a boost by the sweeping victory of the liberals in HK in the Legco elections. They had hoped for a similar victory in next year's elections for the Legislative Assembly. However, there were a number of factors that might prevent similar thing happening in Macau. One of these was that the liberals in the enclave had a relatively short history and that Macau residents had yet to grasp the concept of democracy. Lam Chong also observed that the liberals were quite alienated from the public and did not have close links with the electorate at the grassroots level.
Lam Chong noted that the liberals had held a seminar to look into factors leading to the success of the liberals in HK as well as to examine their own weaknesses. Views expressed in the seminar included a call for the liberals to establish contacts with different strata of the community.
On government administration, Lam Chong noted that the Governor had been keen to work on next year's budget and to find a suitable candidate to be the anti-graft commissioner. Lam Chong noted that there had been some differences in opinions over the latter issue. Some members of the Legislative Assembly were of the view that the anti-graft commissioner should be familiar with the enclave while the Governor would like the post to be filled by someone who had no relations with the enclave to ensure his impartiality. Lam Chong said the candidate the Governor had in mind was an Appeal Court judge in Portugal.
On land issues, Lam Chong talked about new laws governing land sales. One of the new stipulations was that all information concerning land sales would be made available for public inspection before calling for tender.
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