Politics | ANM accuses police of abusing the law when barring visitors

The New Macau Association (ANM) has handed a letter to the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC), asking them to investigate the mismanagement of local police authorities in barring non-residents from entering Macau. Meanwhile, ANM president Sulu Sou Ka Hou is worried that the authorities may even limit the rights of residents to return to Macau in the future.
ANM said that it is not uncommon for the MSAR government to refuse travellers entry into Macau. However, the situation has worsened in the past month, with Hong Kong and mainland residents facing more scrutiny when trying to cross the border into Macau. Some were even deported immediately.
The association said that while the law has granted police authorities the power to refuse entry to any person perceived as a threat to Macau from entering, the authorities may only implement this law when it is absolutely necessary. “When studying the refused entry cases in recent months, none of them has a strong indication that the individual who was barred from entering Macau shows any signs of ‘not being welcomed or being a threat to the internal security and stability’ or ‘relating to transnational criminal activities including terrorism’”. ANM said authorities are clearly barring people indiscriminately when their names match those on the “blacklist”, which it said is in total disregard for the legality and rationality of administrative actions.
“Given that the authorities have clearly misinterpreted the law and abused the power of preventive actions, which is openly challenging the basic principles of rule of law and human rights protection of Macau… ANM now reported the issue to the CCAC in order to ensure the protection of human rights and freedom, as well as the legality and rationality of the exercising of authority”.
When speaking to the Times, Sulu Sou said he is certain that there is a so-called “blacklist” with names of people who are not allowed to enter Macau. He said that the blacklist in Macau might even be longer than that of the mainland. He also admitted that he is concerned with the authorities tightening their grab on political activists in Macau.
“Although the current legislation is only to regulate non-residents entering Macau, these regulations seemed to be interpreted freely by the authorities. [It is not certain whether] one day there will be local residents who will face difficulties when returning to Macau,” he said.
Sulu Sou pointed out that a member of the Hong Kong Federation of Students – one of the major organizers of the Occupy Movement – has faced some issues when trying to return to Hong Kong from Taiwan. “People are now talking about not being able to go to mainland. But the fact is, there will be issues for some to return home in the future. This is a serious concern”, he said.
In fact, the ANM president said that he has heard rumors suggesting some Macau residents who are also Hong Kong ID holders and have actively participated in the Occupy Movement may have their Macau ID taken away when they attempted to enter Macau in the future. “If this situation really arises in the future, ANM will certainly be protesting against it immediately,” he said.

Jason Chao writes letter to SCMP

Local activist Jason Chao wrote a letter to the editor at South China Morning Post, raising criticism over the tightened security during president Xi Jinping’s visit to Macau, as well as mainland China’s press coverage of the MSAR’s 15th anniversary. “For me, the best bit about the visit was his departure,” Chao wrote, stressing that it put an end “to the over-sensitive security measures.” “Major roads were sealed off for Xi’s visit, making Macau’s traffic congestion even worse.” The activist recalled that pro-establishment media dubbed the two pandas that Xi Jinping offered and the border checkpoints operating around the clock as “gifts,” but in fact residents did not feel so grateful. “The gift of the pandas has little to do with citizens’ day-to-day lives. And the new border arrangements will be of concern to people living near the checkpoints (…)” he wrote.