Macau ‘governed by its own people’ omitted from CPPCC report

Zhao Leji, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, joins a panel discussion with political advisors from HK and Macau. Edmund Ho (center, left) is among them

The phrases, “Hong Kong people governing Hong Kong” and “Macau People governing Macau” were not mentioned in this year’s Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) work report, which was delivered by Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the CPPCC.

In the report delivered by Yu, the terms “One Country, Two Systems” and “high degree of autonomy” were also omitted.

Instead, in relation to the Chinese government’s work deployment, the work report only mentions the strengthening of the unity and friendship with compatriots from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, in addition to mobilizing Chinese [ethnic] sons and daughters into sharing the Chinese ethnicity’s interests, so as to “realize the Chinese dream.”

In relation to another report which relates to both Macau and Hong Kong, the Chinese government said that the country will promote a mutually beneficial cooperation across all areas between mainland, Hong Kong and Macau, according to Xinhua news.

Zhao Leji, the sixth-ranking member in the Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee, upon joining a panel discussion with political advisors from Hong Kong and Macau, expressed his hope that the advisors could deepen the study, publicity and implementation of the spirit of the 19th CPC National Congress. Zhao Leji continued by calling on the advisors to fulfill their duties earnestly, and to devote themselves to their active roles to keep carrying on the glorious tradition of loving the motherland, Hong Kong and Macau.

Chen Sixi, deputy director of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Macau, while presenting at the CPPCC in Beijing, also commented on Hong Kong and Macau.

According to a report by Apple Daily, Chen noted that Hong Kong’s independence and localism, have been recently prominent issues in Hong Kong.

He believes that it is worth considering the implementation of the state’s security law in Hong Kong.

When making a few remarks on Macau, Chen said that the implementation of both the Basic Law and of the policy “one country, two systems” is obviously effective in the MSAR.

Chen said that external powers are trying to import an independence-thinking trend to Macau, and suggested that Macau be alert to these attempts to influence the population.

Chen said in relation to SAR independence that the response should be to “hit it once its head shows out, and that [there is] no room at all.”

NPC members direct election suggested

Ng Kuok Cheong and Au Kam San are calling for the future National People’s Congress members from Macau to be directly elected by the Chinese citizens in Macau. The two lawmakers issued an open letter to Macau’s NPC members, saying that these Macau representatives have the responsibility to propose the topic to the state. In addition, Ng and Au expressed that they hope Macau’s NPC members can firmly support the reasonable regulations of the constitution over the state leaders. They suggested that Macau’s NPC members should assist the country for the establishment of China’s principal officials’ assets declaration law.

Activist wants authority to deal with non-physical sexual harassment

The President of the New Macau Association (NMA), Kam Sut Leng, has suggested the local government establish an independent organization to handle non-physical sexual harassment cases.

In Kam’s opinion, the government is responsible for establishing the facts in this type of sexual harassment.

Kam proposed the independent organization to be similar to Hong Kong’s Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC), which is an independent legal organization which possesses investigation rights over sexual, disability, family and racial discrimination.

“We can see that protection against verbal or [other] non-physical [sexual harassment] is very rare in Macau,” Kam remarked, adding “Macau’s values are relatively conservative. When [a victim] feels uncomfortable or harassed, [when] she reports to the police, she has to talk about [the harassment] one more time, and [the case might] not be accepted, which causes harm for the second or even third time [to the victim].”

According to Kam, Macau does not have a central department handling all different cases of sexual harassment, whereas in Hong Kong, the EOC manages all kinds of discriminations, as well as situations involving sexual harassment. 

“The victim can require compensation,” said Kam, who believes that a body similar to EOC could help women in Macau.

Kam also believes that the Macau government should establish a database to record all complaints, information on cases, and other data related to sexual harassment, alongside the reasons for accepting or rejecting each case.

This way, it would be able to provide references to the government to inform future amendments to related laws.

The activist also thinks that the government should set up a sexual harassment prevention team within each government department, as well as draft prevention instructions to pre-empt sexual harassment cases which might occur.