http://m.afr.com/p/world/militant_in_macau_oC9s7Ge05DZ463RpNqxsJI
Lisa Murray - 30 Aug 2014 04:49:16
Under police scrutiny . . . Macau’s Scott Chiang, who wants a greater voice for the residents of the special administratjve r Photo: Qilai Shen
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As Scott Chiang eats a filet-o-fish in downtown Macau, he points to the place across the road where he was arrested last Sunday.
He and four friends had been walking around the popular street corner with tablet computers urging people to vote online in a civil referendum. The questions: Should Macau have universal suffrage by 2019 and do those polled have confidence in current leader, Fernando Chui, who will begin a second five-year term as chief executive next week?
The city-state’s Beijing-backed government denied the democracy activists a fixed polling station so they attempted to skirt the rules by staying mobile.
It didn’t work.
“Twelve officers warned us to stop and then they ‘invited’ us to come back to the police station where we were held for six hours,” says Chiang, an articulate 33-year old in a bright blue T-shirt, who could pass for someone half his age if it wasn’t for a few grey hairs.
Like Hong Kong, Macau is a self-governed so-called special administrative region (SAR) of China, operating under the “one country, two systems” principle.
Since the former Portuguese colony was handed back to China in 1999, it has focused on a gaming expansion and is the biggest casino hub in the world. In 2013, gamblers in Macau spent in one day what it took their counterparts in Las Vegas to bet in a whole week. Macau is now the fourth richest territory in the world in terms of gross domestic product per capita and politics has traditionally taken a back seat.
Inequity sparks protests
But some people are starting to feel left behind, according to Chiang. That has resulted in a series of protests, with thousands of residents taking to the streets to air their grievances over soaring house prices, overdevelopment and a surge in the number of mainland tourists and foreign workers. The recent activity has catapulted pro-business, conservative Macau into the unlikely position of political provocateur.
Encouraged by pro-democracy advocates in nearby Hong Kong, a group of students, professors and casino workers have started to be more vocal in challenging the government and the political system.
So far, more than 7500 people have voted in the online civil referendum, exceeding organisers’ expectations.
But Chiang is now on a police watch-list and one of his colleagues, Jason Chao, was charged with “aggravated disobedience”, as the government attempts to quell dissent and ensure the smooth re-election of Mr Chui on Sunday.
It’s hard to see how it won’t be smooth. Mr Chui is standing unopposed and will be rubber-stamped by a pro-Beijing election committee of 400 people, most of them chosen by him.
It’s a voting system Chiang and his fellow activists describe as absurd.
“We need to remind people they ought to be the master of Macau’s fate,” says Chiang.
Battleground for Beijing
While Beijing’s control over Macau is entrenched and its democracy movement is fledgling, it has become the latest battleground for President Xi Jinping. The Chinese leader came to power two years ago amid hopes of political reform but instead the Communist Party has tightened the screws on its territories. It has all but reneged on a promise to deliver Hongkongers universal suffrage by 2017, insisting on limiting and vetting the candidates in any future election. That position is expected to be formalised on Sunday, which could trigger protests in Hong Kong, as the pro-democracy Occupy Central group has vowed to shut down its central business district.
Meanwhile, Beijing has been pursuing stronger ties with Taiwan, prompting students to occupy Taipei’s government buildings for more than three weeks in March and April. It has also tightened security controls in the north-western region of Xinjiang, which has a sizeable Uighur Muslim population, as well as in Tibet.
“Beijing fears it is losing control of Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan,” says Willy Lam, an expert on economic and political reform in China.
“These four places, in the eyes of Xi Jinping, are being targeted by hostile foreign forces, who want to stir up trouble.”
“Macau is no threat to state security,” says Lam, who is an adjunct professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
“Compared with Hong Kong, Beijing’s control over Macau is much stronger and the size of the pan-democratic movement there is much smaller, but it has displayed surprising energy and staying power.”
Political awakening
That persistence was on display on May 25, when activists organised a protest against a proposed law, which would have handed out generous benefits to retiring officials and granted the serving chief executive immunity from criminal charges. An estimated 20,000 people attended the demonstration, which was described as Macau’s “political awakening.”
In the end, the government withdrew the bill. “That march got into motion in just four days and no one expected it to attract that many people,” says Macau-based political commentator Eric Sautede.
Sautede was a professor at Macau’s University of Saint Joseph for seven years but he was sacked in June after being deemed too outspoken on political issues. His firing sparked a debate about growing censorship in the city-state’s universities. He says a shift is taking place in social activism.
“People have become disgruntled and they are more active now,” he says.
A common criticism of the government is soaring property prices, which have more than tripled since Mr Chui became chief executive in 2009. Another issue is a jump in the number of foreign workers to 155,000, almost a quarter of Macau’s population. That number is expected to rise further over the next few years as a suite of mega-casino resorts are completed, including the James Packer-backed Studio City and Las Vegas Sands Corp’s latest offering, the Parisian. Those resorts will attract greater tourist numbers, which reached 2.5 million during the Chinese New Year Holiday in February,
The government is doing its best to curb rising political activism. The civil referendum has been declared illegal and the organisers’ front man Jason Chou is under investigation following his detention.
Chiang bristles when asked whether he thinks Macau has been apolitical until now.
“To brand people in Macau as apolitical is not accurate,” he says. “People are just trying to find a way to feel comfortable to express their beliefs.”
He says a good example was the protest on Monday by about 1000 dealers and casino floor workers demanding higher pay and better working conditions.
“This is the group of people who have been labelled the most apolitical in the past because they were concerned about their jobs. But even that group is motivated now.”
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The Australian Financial Review
