Government accepts AL suggestions to amend demonstration law

Lawmaker Ho Ion Seng

The First Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL) has suggested that the government amend the city’s laws on the rights of demonstration and the rights of public meetings. Ho Ion Sang, chairman of the AL First Standing Committee, revealed this information yesterday, after the committee had a meeting with government representatives.

“Regarding the overall future amendment of this law, the government has agreed with the suggestions and opinions proposed by the committee,” said Ho Ion Sang, adding that “the government said that, in case the law needs to be amended comprehensively, it [the amendment] must go through a public consultation. Only then the related [law amendment] works can proceed. However, the government does not yet have a confirmed schedule [regarding the amendment].”

According to Ho, the First Standing Committee’s lawmakers are proposing that the government amend the demonstration law for several reasons.

For one, the Court of Final Appeal has, on several occasions, arrived at different verdicts for similar cases concerning demonstration applications that involve both the government and the applicants.

According to Ho, the court said that disparities in verdicts regarding disputes between the government and demonstration applicants are caused by ambiguity in the city’s legal articles. 

“Because of this, the government should, in the future, in terms of the articles and time and location restrictions, have clearer articles in [the demonstration law],” said Ho, declaring that “the government has heard our suggestions.”

Ho further explained that “after our analysis, we found out that this law [has been used] for a rather long time. Some of its content is not adequate in view of [society’s] development, therefore we indicated some [of the law’s] problems caused by phrasing. We brought up our suggestion [and] the government agreed.”

“The government said that, in the future, it will carry out the amending of the related law. [The government said that] the amendment cannot be [completed just] by the administration authority’s own lawmakers; […] it needs a public consultation,” said Ho.

When talking about transferring the authorization of the demonstrations from the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) to the Public Security Police Force (PSP), Ho noted that the government had previously explained that the change would not decrease the residents’ rights of demonstration.

Ho claimed that in the future “demonstrations and public meetings [will] not need to be approved. [They] just need to notify [the related government department].”

He reaffirmed that the amendment only “changes the department which the applications are delivered to.”

According to Ho’s introduction, previously, there were eight locations, under the administration of IACM, where demonstration applicants could visit to deliver their applications.

After transferring the responsibility, the PSP will also have eight places available for the public to submit relevant notifications: five in Macau, one in Coloane, and two in Taipa.

The new locations’ opening hours will be between 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., longer than those of the previous offices. 

The government will continue to meet with the AL First Standing Committee to discuss other technical matters concerning the latest amendment.