If you want to include a menu in a page whose type is html, you have to use the <%useMenu ()%> macro instead of <%menu%>. Otherwise any macros in the menu text will not be evaluated.

There's a technical reason for this. Any macros in a template will be evaluated as the template is included. Since the menu inclusion is coming from the text of the page, any macros it contains will not be evaluated. That's what useMenu does for you.