Having grown mind-numbingly accustomed to the almost daily media reports and forecasts on Macau’s dwindling gaming revenues, a much more unexpected headline quickly grabbed the attention of the WGM team late last week as various publications revealed Macau had been identified as an attractive terrorist target.
So says Hong Kong risk consultancy Steve Vickers and Associates Ltd in its 2016 Asia Risk Assessment report, which describes Macau as a “soft target” and a highly desirable one “given the nexus of Chinese, American and Jewish interests” in its gaming sector.
The revelation was notable for a number of reasons, not least of which being the fact that none of us at WGM had ever really thought about the possibility of terrorism in Macau. But it also got us thinking about the wisdom of publicly naming Macau or any other location as an attractive terrorist target – not to mention outlining the reasons why.
News channels across the globe keep telling us the best way to combat terrorist groups is to starve them of publicity, only to do the exact opposite in their nightly news. Likewise, it could be argued that it is irresponsible to release speculation such as that contained in the 2016 Asia Risk Assessment report to the general public – and just as irresponsible to report on the speculation.
It seems we have now reached a stage where corporate and social responsibility is superseded by the need to be noticed. And that in itself is dangerous.
Food for thought, perhaps?
