‘Go-slow’ protest aiming for ‘secretary’s resignation’

The “Go-slow” protest aims to “call for the secretary’s [Raimundo do Rosário] resignation” said lawmaker Pereira Coutinho in a press conference held yesterday at the Macau Civil Servants Association headquarters.

After the press conference was held, the march scheduled for Saturday afternoon was “temporarily canceled” due to lack of consensus with the authorities regarding its route. Authorities failed to accept the proposed route wanting to perform “significant adjustments” that did not find consensus among the protesters. The protest, which is organized by several associations and organizations, and is supported by the office of Coutinho and fellow lawmaker Leong Veng Chai, will now be postponed in order to discuss a new route.

During the press conference, Coutinho commented on the meeting with Secretary for Transport and Public Works Raimundo do Rosário on January 25.

The meeting followed a street demonstration held on January 8, which the organizers claim gathered around 5,000 people marching against the government’s proposed fee hike for several services related to the Traffic Affairs Bureau (DSAT), especially those concerning vehicle removal in cases of irregular parking.

In addition to calls for the government to retract the regulations, the organizers are calling for the resignation or sacking of the secretary. “The meeting last month [with the secretary] was in fact a disappointing one. He looked to be in a rush, and at least from his body language, he looked like he wasn’t interested in the meeting,” Coutinho said. “Besides that attitude, he hasn’t give [us] any reasonable explanation [for the rise of the fees and taxes]. We were very sad and disappointed with his behavior.”

Coutinho further said that he had no doubt that the exponential hikes were motivated by “colluding interests between the government and the businessmen,” since “right after the regulations entered into force, the prices of the parking fees and rentals rose.” “People are tired of this situation,” he added.

Coutinho was not able to confirm whether the planned route was final, as the organizers have yet to confer with the police authorities on the topic.

The lawmaker asked for the understanding of Macau residents for possible traffic congestion on the day of the protest, advising they “find alternative solutions to go to work.”

“We don’t intend to create trouble for the population. It’s the government that is pushing us to the streets [to protest]. We are left without any alternative,” he said.

While Coutinho declined to speculate on the expected number of demonstrators, he remarked that he was “more confident this time than in the last [demonstration].”

Lei Kit Meng, leader of the Workers’ Self-help Union Macau and an organizer of the protest, added that at least 500 cars from his association are expected to be involved.

The executive order 526/2016 that entered into force at the start of the new year revised the fees for multiple Transport Bureau (DSAT) related services, including fines for the removal of vehicles parked illegally, which were raised from MOP300 to MOP1,500.

The DSAT replied that the fees had merely been adjusted to an appropriate amount, as they had not been updated for over 10 years.