City leader gave public money to Guangzhou institution, where he is also a board member
STUART.LAU@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Monday, 09 May, 2016, 8:55pm
Fernando Chui is a member of the university’s board. Photo: Felix Wong
Macau is set for a politically heated weekend, with up to 1,000 protesters expected to take to the streets on Sunday demanding the ouster of city’s leader.
Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai-on isaccused of passing public funds to a university on the mainland.
Amid the deepening row about favouritism involving 100 million yuan (HK$119 million) of public funds Chui donated to Jinan University in Guangzhou, a pro-democracy group on Monday announced the march, which will take place on Sunday.
And the protest will be closely followed by a visit of China’s third-highest ranking official, Zhang Dejiang, to Hong Kong next week.
Chui pledged to hand over 100 million yuan from the Macau government’s coffers to the university via the semi-official Macau Foundation, according to the university.
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But Chui was revealed to be a key board member of the university, while he was also the chairman of the foundation’s board of trustees, giving rise to criticism about a conflict of interest.
“We expect 1,000 protesters to attend the rally, and we will demand Chui step down and cancel the donation,” said Sulu So Ka-hou, of the New Macau Association, the protest organiser.
He also called for greater financial transparency, in which legislators could exercise control over public money.
One Macau resident who left a comment on the association’s Facebook page asked: “Why doesn’t Chui donate 100 million yuan from his own pocket?”
The Macau government has said the donation was a necessary “reciprocity” in return for the mainland’s long-standing support for the city. It said there would be supervision over the use of the fund, although it did not give details.
The foundation said the cash, to be paid in two instalments this year and next, was designated for the school’s infrastructure, including a hall building for Macau students, who have so far numbered nearly 20,000 at the institution in Guangzhou.
Protests are rare in the former Portuguese enclave, which has a largely pro-mainland population, despite an increasingly politically active younger generation.
Almost two years ago, thousands of protesters converged on the legislature calling for Chui’s resignation if he refused to withdraw controversial proposals that would have granted lavish retirement packages to top officials.
Within two days, Chui scrapped the bill, in a dramatic U-turn in the wake of what was considered the biggest march in the special administrative region since the 1999 handover.
http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1942950/macau-chief-executive-fernando-chui-faces-protests-over-mainland
