Macau youth might turn to streets in ‘5 to 10 years’

A public administration professor from the Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM) says that local youngsters might turn to the streets in “5 to 10 years” to demand more democratic progress and swiftness on the resolution of long-running problems in the SAR such as housing problems.

In an interview with Portuguese newspaper Hoje Macau, Leung Kai Yin said that public protests might erupt if the new government headed by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng does not work toward political reform.

“In five years, young people can demand a high level of democracy, because those who were born in Macau have a much higher sense of belonging to the territory than their parents had. They will try to fight for their rights,” Leung said in the interview with Hoje Macau.

The professor added that there are many scholars currently believing that what is currently happening in Hong Kong will one day come to Macau, given the higher degree of local identity among the younger generations.

“The new generations have a higher educational level and a greater sense of belonging to Macau,” he added.

For Leung, although the local government is paying a lot of attention to the problem and trying to prevent it from arising in the first place, the ideas aired by Ho when campaigning for Chief Exectuive show that he has no intention to put in place any significant political reform or enhanced democracy.

“In August [last year], some people tried to organize a vigil at the Senado Square, but the police stopped the event,” he noted as an example of the prompt reaction of the government to any activities mimicking or related to the social unrest in Hong Kong. RM