AASJ poll activity terminated, organizers demand ‘real reason’

The Association of Juridical and Social Affairs (AAJS) revealed that they received a fax notification from the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) on August 29, informing them that their application for the use of public space to conduct an opinion poll was rejected.
The group was going to use the areas next to the pedestrian footbridges at Rua do Campo and Rua Um do Bairro Iao Hon on August 30 and 31 to conduct a poll regarding the election of the Chief Executive and members of the Legislative Assembly.
In its notification, IACM claimed that the two locations were full of pedestrians and merchants and were unsuitable to have objects such as tables and chairs placed there.
AASJ president Caruso Fong told the Times in a telephone interview yesterday that IACM’s decision is “unusual”. He is currently drafting a statement to the bureau in order to learn the real reason behind the decision.
He claimed that IACM had previously told them that there should be no issue with them using the public space for such a purpose.
Mr Fong expressed that he did not want to speculate whether the rejection is related to the civil referendum and reiterated that their polling activity is not carried out for or against any party.
If IACM gives the association a response similar to the fax notification after they submit the statement, Caruso Fong stated that he will resort to legal action.
“I think that the reason given by IACM is really inadequate. Which street of Macau is not crowded? If [IACM handles the application] in such a way, does it mean that there will not be any public event on the street ever? We think that it is unreasonable,” he added.
The Times also spoke to lawyer Hong Weng Kuan, who suggested that it is not very useful to appeal the decision to IACM, as the bureau is not likely to change its decision.
Instead, he advised people to go to the Court of Final Appeal (TUI) for these kinds of issues, claiming that TUI’s decision will be final and the public departments will not be able to reject the verdict. JPL