ABSTRACT
Current laws provided for popular election of only twelve of twenty-nine legislators. The chief executive is appointed by an electoral college of influential citizens, most of whom are seen as conservative allies of Beijing . . . The government of chief executive Edmund Ho has ruled for the eight years since China resumed sovereignty . . . The Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration of 1987 and the Basic Law, Macao’s mini constitution, make no mention of universal suffrage as the ultimate goal of political reform, as Hong Kong’s Basic Law does . . . In what has traditionally been a placid political environment, the signs of public discontent are emerging. Several thousand people protested on 1 October [2007], China’s National Day, for the first time. They marched on government house over a potpourri of grievances ranging from harsh new penalties for illegal parking of motorcycles, to corruption in government and the use of illegal labour. It followed a rowdy protest in May on similar issues. Another protest is expected in December to coincide with the anniversary of the handover to China . . . Macao’s small democratic movement is also riding the wave of discontent to step up its campaign for direct elections for the chief executive and Legislative Assembly . . . Democrats say the [present] system stifles debate and encourages corruption and government secrecy . . . [On 3 October] democrats handed a proposal for reform to a representative of the chief executive’s office, demanding a consultation with the government on increasing the number of directly elected legislators, in stages, and on the direct election of the chief executive . . . There is a common theme to recent anti-government sentiment, say legislators and political analysts. Living standards for the poor and middle class are being eroded, and the government of chief executive Edmund Ho . . . is out of touch. An annual report from the European Commission on conditions in Macao said in August that the gambling boom, instead of lifting the quality of life for the Macanese, had resulted in ‘steep and widening inequality of incomes’. With imported workers – principally from mainland China but also South-east Asia – numbering about 70,000 or a quarter of the
work force – the labour market has become more competitive and wages have not kept up with price rises and rents have risen by 200 per cent to 300 per cent . . . By most measures Macao has been a huge economic success. Last year [2006] the economy grew by 16.6 per cent, one of the fastest rates in the world. In the second quarter of this year [2007] growth was 31.9 per cent. Official unemployment in August was 3.1 per cent . . . The city’s twenty-three casinos generated revenues of $6.87 billion in 2006, surpassing Las Vegas [in the United States] as the largest gaming market in the world . . . Political analysts say the popular frustration over widening income inequality is being exacerbated by a perception the government is corrupt and too close to the casinos and other business interests. Ho’s government has been plagued by a succession of bribery scandals, the most damaging involving Ao Man-long, the secretary for transport and public works . . . Although Ao’s arrest . . . last December [2006] on charges of accepting bribes and money laundering . . . helped Ho bolster his antigraft credentials, the case is viewed as the tip of a much deeper corruption problem and has provided momentum for public protest.
