The long-serving incumbent lawmaker, António Ng Kuok Cheong, who has been disqualified from running in the coming Legislative Assembly (AL) election, yesterday published on his social media account some excerpts from a more than 200-page “evidence document,” in substantiation of the government’s decision to rule him out from the election.
The document was compiled by the Legislative Assembly Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL).
According to the CAEAL document, several proofs concern Ng’s previous social media posts supporting universal suffrage in the selection of the city’s Chief Executive (CE).
On a separate page, the CAEAL presented a photo of Ng and former chairman of Hong Kong’s Democratic Party Wu Chi Wai as an exhibit. The picture was captioned as showing Ng having a meeting with Wu who belonged to Hong Kong’s Democratic Party that “advocates ‘Hong Kong Independence.’”
Last Friday afternoon, CAEAL announced that 21 AL candidates in six groups were disqualified due to “factual evidence” proving that they neither pledge allegiance to Macau’s Basic Law nor the Macau SAR region. Such an evidential nature shall apply to all exhibits in the “evidence document” against Ng.
Yesterday, the Democratic Party of Hong Kong released a statement on its Facebook page, proclaiming that “The Democratic Party and Wu Chi Wai have neither agreed on [nor] supported Hong Kong Independence.”
The Democratic Party of Hong Kong also declared its support for Hong Kong’s return to China and the implementation of “One Country, Two Systems.”
The Hong Kong political party regarded the accusations made by Macau’s government as “serious misinterpretations,” for which it expressed “deep regret.” The party urges Macau’s government to make “clarifications and corrections as soon as possible.”
Links with Hong Kong
Since Macau’s return to China in 1999, it is unprecedented for direct AL candidates to be invalidated by the city’s government on the grounds that they do not uphold Macau’s Basic Law or are unfaithful to the SAR region.
Following his disqualification, lawmaker Ng said that he thought the recent political climate in Hong Kong had prompted the authorities in Macau to decide to rule them out.
Last night, lawmaker and also disqualified candidate Sulu Sou released an official statement refuting the allegations against him made by some media outlets. “I have never received any training for the secession of the country from any overseas entities, never contacted anyone to advocate splitting the country or opposed the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, and I have never participated in any overseas election campaigns or violent activities,” the statement said.
Sou’s clarifications came after several Hong Kong media outlets, such as Hong Kong Commercial Daily (HKCD), ran stories on July 12 explaining the reason for the disqualification of Sou and Scott Chiang using a “widespread online statement.” This statement claimed that both of them participated in the “color revolution” training organized by the U.S.’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Taiwan’s Military Intelligence Bureau.
The HKCD said that Sou was one of the key targets being trained by the external forces and he was appointed as chairman of the New Macau Association in July the same year, after he returned from the “training.” His position was then taken up by his successor Chiang a year later.
Yesterday, the Macao Daily also ran a similar story, saying that the purported “training” by the U.S. forces is intended to “cultivate anti-China people by advocating ‘Taiwan Independence’, ‘Hong Kong Independence’ and ‘Xinjiang Independence’.”
In his statement, Sou reaffirms his commitment to “supporting” the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China and Macau’s Basic Law and to being “loyal” both to the nation and Macau.
Following the announcement of their disqualification, four out of the six excluded groups have claimed they would not make any changes to their candidate lists. Furthermore, they vowed to file appeals against CAEAL’s decision in the courts.
These four groups include: the Macau Democratic Prosperity Association, led by incumbent lawmaker Ng and advocate Chiang; the New Macau Progressives, which includes incumbent lawmaker Sou; the New Macau Progressive Association, led by former full-attendance lawmaker Paul Chan Wai Chi; and the Macau Justice, led by labor rights advocate Lei Sio Kuan.
Apart from the 21 disqualified lawmakers, two extra candidates from a seventh list were disqualified because they were not registered voters: a precondition for candidacy.
No Comments