The New Macau Association (ANM) President Scott Chiang refused to comment on whether he thinks Au Kam San should step down from his post as a lawmaker, following his resignation from the pan-democratic organization.
On the sidelines of an ANM press conference calling for greater publicity and public scrutiny of the extradition treaty in progress, Chiang did not clarify whether he would advocate Au’s resignation as a lawmaker, which would subsequently trigger a by-election.
“I don’t have an opinion on that,” answered Chiang, before adding, “I see no law regulating that [Au should step down].”
According to the law, there is no requirement for the former ANM founder to resign from his post now that he has disassociated himself from the organization. However, it could be seen as inappropriate for the lawmaker to remain in his post following a divergence of views between Au and the association he founded and under whose banner he was elected.
According to the law, a by-
election is to be called within 180 days of a member of the elected legislative resigning, unless the current term of office of the AL expires before then. Au has not made any indication that he will resign, and according to some sources, he has said that he wouldn’t.
One reason that the pan-democrats, like ANM, may be reluctant to push for Au’s resignation is that a by-election is unlikely to go in their favor. The conservatives are considered to have more mobilization power in the event of a sudden by-election.
Due to the proportional, list-based voting system, the party with the most number of votes would win the vacant seat. If a by-election went the same way as the most recent AL elections in 2013, that party would be Chan Men Kam’s United Citizens Association of Macau (ACUM), which netted 18.02 percent of the vote. ACUM is in the pan-establishment bloc that opposes the pro-democrats.
“I called him,” Chiang explained, after the news of Au’s departure was broken to him, “to enquire if [the resignation] was genuine and if there was a way to work around it. Obviously I failed in that.”
The reason behind Au’s sudden departure remains unclear, with varying accounts being speculated across the media and among the public. Some are alleging that Au claimed that ANM adopted an arbitrary method for accepting or declining new membership applications, as a means of stifling potential challengers within the association.
After being questioned over the membership application system, Chiang refused to disclose the actual procedure for determining whether a member will or will not be permitted to join. He said that he prefers not to comment on individual cases.
“More are accepted than rejected,” he cryptically answered. Chiang also addressed allegations that the association did not permit dissenting voices, saying that he could only speak for the brief period of his tenure as president, but that he intends to investigate the matter further.
He also expressed that it was not a good time to start speculating over who might replace Au on the ANM list for the next election. Chiang wants to put the whole issue behind him, stressing that both sides “think of it as ‘water under the bridge’.” However, this does not explain Au’s decision to halt financial contributions to the association from his lawmaker salary.
The president added, “we acknowledge what Au has done for the association and for Macau in the past.” Staff reporter
Jason Chao demands full disclosure of extradition treaty
Jason Chao has said that the inclusion of an exception clause in the proposed extradition treaty “is very dangerous” and will potentially allow the abuse of power by MSAR and mainland government officials.
The New Macau Association (ANM) member said that the group was alerted to an exception clause in the proposed “extradition treaty” that allowed the extradition of non-mainland citizens from Macau for acts committed on the mainland, “involving the military or endangering interests of national defense,” ignoring the requirement of double-criminality.
Double-criminality refers to the agreement on extradition that is widely accepted worldwide, when in order to proceed with extradition, a suspect or fugitive must have committed a crime in both of the countries or states in question.
ANM is concerned that, because mainland officials frequently justify arrests of individuals as “endangering security interests,” the exception clause is open to abuse.
This also applies to the recent arrests of human rights lawyers in China due to allegations of “inciting subversion of state power.” Using this justification to arrest individuals has become “routine practice,” Jason Chao explained.
He calls for the immediate and full disclosure of the complete text of the extradition treaty and the exact nature of the “consensus” reached with Hong Kong and mainland China.
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