【明報專訊】IT is clear from its content that the "departure protection scheme" the Macao government devised is an out-and-out "self-fattening scheme". Under it the chief executive of Macao and his principal officials would receive fat "compensation" after they have left office. Few elected governments would table such a bill. However, the Macao government attempted to push it through the Legislative Assembly though it had neither consulted citizens about it nor openly explained it to them. Needless to say, things unfold independently of man's will. Macao, long supposed "harmonious", had erupted before the bill was tabled to the legislature. Twenty thousand citizens took to the streets in protest against it in the scorching sun. (According to the police, the total number of participants peaked at 7,000.) Eventually, Macao Chief Executive Fernando Chui came out to declare he had decided to withdraw the bill.