Our Desk: The neglected population

João Pedro Lau

I was interviewing the owner of a paper sacrifice offering shop last month when several of her customers came in and asked for some paper sacrifices.
When the owner was looking for the products they ordered, the customers started chatting amongst themselves.
One of them mentioned the apartment next door to his, which he said was rented by several people from the Philippines. He said that noise often came out from the apartment, which annoyed him.
Another customer echoed his comments and talked about how noisy Filipinos are.
I was tempted to join their conversation and asked whether they had spoken to their neighbors about the noise issue, but thought that they probably hadn’t done so because they didn’t speak English.
I am not going to discuss the noise problem here. What I found more worth discussing is the way they spoke about their Filipino neighbors. It was as if their neighbors were aliens from another planet whose actions could not be comprehended and whose existence added no value to the city.
This led me to start thinking about the way we see the expat community here.
When talking about the expat or “foreign” community in Macau, many will immediately think about the Portuguese. Some may also think of those from other European countries.
Seldom would people mention those from the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations.
In fact, according to the Human Resources Office, there are around 42,000 non-resident workers who come from these South Asian countries, which is around 6.7 percent of the total population of Macau.
This figure does not include those who have already acquired permanent residency.
Despite having this sizable population in Macau, these groups are often not taken seriously. They are not represented in the Legislative Assembly, not considered to belong here (although some of them have been living here longer than me), and are, in some circumstances, treated as if they are inferior.
I do not want to invoke the r-word here to describe my fellow Macau locals. However, it is obvious that there is a general “understanding” among the Macau population that those from the countries mentioned above can be exploited if necessary and can be neglected most of the time (until they start making noise in a nearby apartment).
Nevertheless, the fact is, they are an important force that has helped drive Macau towards its success; they are the ones who filled the city’s unwanted positions; they are the ones who are paid so little and work so hard.
I believe that they deserve to be recognized and have their voices heard. They deserve to be seen as part of the Macau community like those from the mainland, Portugal or any other places.
To achieve this recognition and understanding, I think the first step is to communicate. Just like there has to be more connection and communication between the Chinese and Portuguese communities (as I mentioned in my previous article), the same thing has to happen between locals and these groups.
Moreover, I believe that it is time for the government to start examining its multicultural policy (or rather the lack of it). It is important for the authorities to act as leader in issues like this and facilitate the mutual understanding and appreciation of different groups in society.
I hope that in the future, Macau will be able to appreciate and treasure all other cultures that exist here, just like it appreciates and treasures both its Chinese and Portuguese cultures.