Pan-democrats call for more public political reform sessions

New Macau Association have slammed the government for hosting just one public session on political reform next week and will organise their own public session on February 4

The consultation on the development of the political system is “underestimating the importance of the public,” the vice-president of New Macau Association said yesterday.
The association held a rally yesterday at the Senado Square to encourage residents to get informed and actively participate in the consultation. Vice-president Scott Chiang urged the government to do its share in educating the public on the importance of the political reform.
“For the reform of the political system, the government had eight sessions and only one of them is open to the public. This is largely underestimating the importance of the public,” Chiang stressed.
The first round of public consultation organised by the government will end next week. As of now the government has listened to the opinions of political representatives, media, magistrates and legal experts, public servants and economy and finance experts.
Next week it will be up to representatives from social affairs and culture, experts from the transportation, urban planning construction sectors and the general public to speak up.
“What’s important about the reform is that you take away the power from the privileged and distribute it to the general mass. But now they are mainly consulting those privileged. This is useless,” Chiang said.

‘Speak up’

The session, open to all residents, will take place on January 18, from 8 pm at the grand auditorium of the Macau Cultural Centre. Participants must register by next Monday.
The pan-democrat slammed the organisation of the session. “You can register for a seat, but the system is so lousy that you can register for three or four entries with the same name. For me, it shows that the government doesn’t really care about what the public think and what role they take in this reform,” he said.
The association is taking consultation into their own hands, Chiang explained. It will organise a public session open to all residents on February 4, even though the deadline for gathering opinions ends on January 31.
“We are rallying for the citizens to speak up,” he said.
“The government says that the communication channels are clear and sufficient for the public to speak up, but the fact is that the general feeling is: ‘It’s not my business and my say wouldn’t count eventually because it is in the hands of those up there’.”
“We want to break that myth and let people know that it’s your interest on the line,” the activist stressed.
Chiang also recalled that the government is doing a different education campaign compared to other policies.

Double standard

“Even in the consultation for the Light Rapid Transit system or the revision of the electricity tariffs they put up street posters and open sessions to listen to the community…Why not do it in a far more important issue than the light rail?” he questioned.
Asked if residents are interested in taking part in politics, the pan-democrat said there is a myth that politics and economy are separate issues.
“In fact economics are very much affected by politics and we really want to break that myth. It only works for the government and the privileged. That’s why we are saying to people: ‘It really matters to you. Listen and speak up’,” he said.
Lawmaker Paul Chan Wai Chi, also a member of the New Macau Association, sent a written enquiry to the Chief Executive earlier this week saying that only one public session for residents is not enough.
“This is inadequate and shows that the government is not paying attention to public opinion,” Chan wrote.
He asked the government to organise one more session, as did lawmakers José Pereira Coutinho and Ng Kuok Cheong, another pan-democrat.
A total of 800 seats will be available in the only session open to all residents and the last one organised by the Administration to collect opinions.