Policy Address | Macau Scholars Union dissatisfied with lack of patriotic education measures

Macau Scholars Union ‬澳門學者聯盟 vice president  Li Jiazeng strongly condemned the government’s 2018 policy report for not setting up measures to enhance patriotic education in Macau.

Yesterday, the Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM) held an academic symposium on the government’s Policy Address, which was presented this week by Chief Executive Chui Sai On.

During the symposium, Li questioned: “If Macau gained so much under the support of the State, why shouldn’t the city pay back the motherland?” In addition, the scholar remarked on the Hong Kong people’s low passion and low consciousness in terms of national pride.

He mentioned that this was a result shown in a survey carried out in Hong Kong and targeting Hong Kong residents.

“I think that if there are people in Macau daring to conduct such a report, they will conclude that the results are not much better than Hong Kong’s,” said Li.

Li criticized the Policy Address for only devoting a small part to discussions about the enhancement of patriotic education for students. Li reasoned that more texts should be added into the policy address next year.

Leng Tiexun, director of the One Country Two Systems Research Centre of IPM, on the sideline of the symposium, indicated that he does not think that the Policy Address needs new measures.

“The government administration is basically [already working on these issues] […] I think maybe the new aspects should concern what the public has been talking about, such as the government having new measures regarding disasters,” said Leng.

“The difference in this policy address is that it emphasized the importance of the constitutional law and of the Basic Law. In the past, it emphasized the Basic Law more,” said Leng, adding “I think these are some practical actions.”

Leng suggested that the government should add more context regarding the construction of the legislative structures. “I think that [political, social, legal] system build-up is always a big thing for Macau,” said Leng.

Another scholar, IPM scholar Yang Yunzhong, pointed out “obvious flaws” in the policy address.

Yang mentioned that the Greater Bay Area agreement “clearly specifies that Macau’s development positioning is One Center and One Platform, and One Base. [The One Base] consists in building a communication and cooperation base where Chinese culture is the mainstream, and where multi-culturalism co-exists. […] It is a pity that the report did not correctly comprehend it [the positioning] and emphasize it,” complained Yang. JZ