AL election | New Macau Progressives call for universal suffrage

Sulu Sou (second from left)

New Macau Progressives, listed as No. 7 in the Direct Election lists of the upcoming elections, is continually calling for universal suffrage, as it has done since 2007.

Speaking to the Times during its campaign activity at Iao Hon Market, Sulu Sou, the first candidate of the list and president of the New Macau Association (ANM), explained that the group is calling for the government and its assembly to reform its political institution.

The pro-democracy group has been running in elections since 1992, but this is the first time that the list has had a 26-year old running as the first candidate.

ANM has long called for the chief executive and all legislators to be elected by universal suffrage, even launching a demonstration back in December 2015.

“We are calling on the government to hold elections for the CE and AL members by universal suffrage. We want to bring more democracy and freedom to the society. All officials should be people-elected,” Sou said.

New Macau Progressives is also prioritizing the revitalization of the AL, and the creation of substantial development in the city.

Sulo stressed that the group hopes to bring new faces and new culture to the AL, adding that it also focuses on raising political awareness in youth.

“We want to bring new faces to the assembly [so] many young people can be more concerned [about] and willing to participate in civil movements or social movements to express their opinion,” the first candidate said.

The group also pledged to combat corruption by strengthening the rights of the Commission Against Corruption and Commission of Audit, and that it encourages increasing the city’s expenditure for its residents.

Moreover, it also calls for greater transparency in the government, as it has been requesting for several years.

Last year, ANM called for transparency in public spending and obtaining public access to the city’s financial activity reports, following the aftermath of the Macau Foundation’s controversial RMB100 million donation to Guangdong’s Jinan University.

Just last month, it again criticized the region’s lack of transparency, claiming that the unchecked opaqueness of the local government’s processes has remained a key issue in the region, citing the partnerships with tech giant Alibaba.

With the AL reformation that the group is aiming for, List 7 says it will propose more established laws, urge the government to respond to matters of public interest, and call for more supervision over the region’s finances.

New Macau Progressives is also calling for open-door meetings, noting that AL meetings should be broadcast and that there should be a mechanism for residents to propose AL motions.

Sou added that another of its significant proposals is to hold officials accountable for their wrongdoings.

“They should take the responsibility and have accountability. Also, the transportation system should be improved,” he said, adding that road digging should be minimized so that the drainage system could be improved.

Sou said that the group is confident in attaining an AL seat due to its past work, stressing that ANM has been contributing to the society for the past 25 years.