Macau has transformed from being a sleepy backwater to the world’s foremost gaming centre in the space of a few years since it opted to open its casino business to more operators.

Billions of dollars in investment from foreign casino magnates have poured in, giving it an international reputation as offering money-making opportunities in a host of economic sectors. These foreign-invested projects are changing the face of the city, which was once dominated by a few local tycoons with intricate business and social ties.

Our revelation today that Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah has a financial stake in the gaming industry – which generates 70 per cent of Macau’s revenue – must therefore be a matter of concern. This fact was not previously on the public record.

Openness and transparency have to be the guiding principles of any government that strives for good governance. For a city such as Macau, which tries to attract foreign investment, that is especially important. Any sense that the level business playing field its legal system provides might have been compromised will raise doubts in the minds of investors. With half a million people, Macau is also a tight-knit community. Local investors also need assurances that no favouritism is at play.

Although the law provides that government officials have to disclose their assets, unlike in Hong Kong, the details are not revealed to citizens. Under the Basic Law of Macau, Mr Ho declares his financial interests to the president of the Court of Final Appeal, where the documents remain sealed.

Courtesy : South China Morning Post

There is no suggestion that Mr Ho has done anything improper. Nor can it be assumed that because he has an indirect stake in the casino empire of Stanley Ho Hung-sun, any advantage has been given. The chief executive presided over the end of Mr Stanley Ho’s gaming monopoly. He also denies any current interest in Stanley Ho’s companies.

There is, however, the fact that Macau is no longer a small town it was a decade ago. Having overtaken Las Vegas in terms of casino revenue, it is firmly in the international spotlight for tourism and investment. That profile is why the charging of former secretary for transport and public works Ao Man-long with 76 counts of corruption has caused such concern among some lawmakers. If the interests of senior officials had been publicly known, the case may well have been less scandalous.

Such incidents prompt developed societies to scrutinise the effectiveness of their safeguards, as happened in Britain in the early 1990s. A committee concluded in 1995 that while the majority of people in public life met the high standards sought by citizens, there were weaknesses in the procedures for maintaining and enforcing those principles. Public officials, it determined, should be imbued with selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership. The rules on declaration of property, assets and interests were subsequently altered.

While the inquiry was held in Britain, its conclusions can readily be applied to all societies. People in public life the world over should have the seven attributes it outlined.

Macau, as a fast-developing society with its future firmly pinned on the wider world, has to take every step to ensure such standards. Given that the gaming industry is so important and the chief executive has an indirect stake in it through a company in which he is a part owner, the city has to follow the route of governments elsewhere and bring its rules into line.

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