SSM calls off demonstration against e-vouchers prompting mixed feelings, reactions

The Health Bureau (SSM) on Saturday night called off the demonstration scheduled for yesterday to express public dissatisfaction with the relief measures presented by the government as part of the third round of the economic stimulus package, announced on March 15. 

The demonstration was organized by the Macao Community Development Initiative (MCDI), a group headed by pro-democracy lawmakers Au Kam San and Ng Kuok Cheong. Their aim was to once again express public views on the new method of support for internal consumption, known as e-vouchers, that did not gather much support after their announcement.

According to the organizers, the protest was intended to call on the government to retract such measures and present others that are more “consensual” among the population – that is, the return to last year’s “consumption cards” – so that every citizen in Macau may benefit from the measure.

Au took to social media to announce that the demonstration had been called off at the last minute by the SSM, which claimed that the organizers could not guarantee that the Covid-19 pandemic prevention and control measures could be fully enforced.

In a statement, Au noted the cancelation and apologized to the public for the last-minute information. Au also appealed to the public not to gather in Tap Seac Square (the original venue from where the street protest was to start) to avoid “misunderstandings that could lead to an accusation by the police forces of illegal assembly.” 

Exhibiting a constructive approach to the matter, Au said, “Striving for social justice and reasonable policies have never depended on one [single] moment, but [instead] requires the public to pay extensive attention to the government’s policies, measures and behaviors and express their opinions in a timely manner.” Au added that the acknowledgments made earlier by the Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng as well as the Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong, which promised to review the method, were already a victory for the public in expressing their views and wishes to the government.

Au noted that Lei told lawmakers and assured supporters that the government would follow the public opinion.

At the time, the lawmakers noted, above all, that the new method proposed by the government of distributing electronic discount coupons for payments made through mobile applications was not suitable for the use of a large portion of the population, especially not children and the elderly.

SSM blames protest organizers

In a statement released by the SSM on Saturday evening, the director of the SSM said the Bureau had requested the suspension of a protest planned for yesterday, “due to the organizer’s failure to [assure the health authorities] that the necessary epidemic-control measures would be implemented during the event.” The director added that the authorities made the decision to suspend the public activity “after taking into account the unpredictability and uncertainty of the number of people that could potentially attend the event.”

According to SSM, the organizers had initially estimated that around 150 people would participate in the demonstration, and later updated this figure to around 500.

In the same statement, the SSM asserted that besides the number of attendees to the event, the organizers could also not comply with other rules such as body temperature checking to ensure that participants did not have a fever. They added that organizers would not be able to guarantee that every participant would wear a face mask at all times; would not be able to enforce social distancing measures (1 meter apart in between participants); and could not ensure that passers-by would not join the event during its course and could not gather at any point.

Lawmaker slams double-standards

Pro-democracy lawmaker Sulu Sou has expressed his views on the events that led to the cancellation of the protest.

In a statement issued in the name of the New Macau Association (NMA), the lawmaker claimed that authorities have, once again, perpetuated double standards in the application of pandemic prevention and control measures.

“In the past, the Public Security Police Force and the Health Bureau have repeatedly made use of epidemic prevention [measures] as an excuse to obstruct citizens from legally exercising their freedom of assembly and protest, which is already precarious,” Sou said. “However, at the same time, certain large-scale activities can be carried out as usual, such as the Grand Prix, marathon events, charity bazaars, food festivals, etc.”

Sou said that the NMA is “gravely dissatisfied with the SAR government’s use of multiple standards of epidemic prevention to make demanding requirements that even the government itself cannot guarantee, to arbitrarily infringe the rights and freedoms of citizens constitutionally enshrined without sufficient justification.” Sou claimed that with such a decision, the director of SSM is violating the provisions of the Administrative Procedure Code and that the Law on Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases. According to Sou, these provisions “carry several flaws that [could] lead to its invalidity [by] seriously deviating from the most basic principle of legality that all administrative acts should comply, which highlights the authorities’ eagerness to suppress the citizens’ legal exercise of freedom of protest.”

In the same statement, the NMA also called on everyone to take this matter as a serious one and urged the authorities “to handle epidemic prevention work fairly, instead of favoring … non-governmental activities as they please, or even trampling on the citizens’ basic rights of freedom of assembly and protest guaranteed enshrined by constitutional legislation.”

Secretary Lei Wai Nong

ECONOMY CHIEF HINTS AT RETURN OF CONSUMPTION CARDS

The Office of the Secretary for Economy and Finance retracted the e-vouchers scheme announcement two weeks ago in a statement published just a few hours before the Health Bureau called off yesterday’s demonstration. Secretary Lei Wai Nong’s office noted that, following public opinion, the government would work on the return of consumption cards. 

In a statement published just a few hours before the notice from the Health Bureau that called off the demonstration, the Office of the Secretary for Economy and Finance retracted the e-vouchers scheme announcement from two weeks ago. The statement noted that, following public opinion, the government would work on the return of consumption cards.

“The government has learned the public prefer the electronic consumption card model that was employed in 2020 and will press ahead with work in that direction, in a bid to enable members of the public to enjoy more conveniently the consumption benefits to be provided by the government,” the statement said. “An announcement regarding optimization will be made soon, once technical details have been finalized.”

In the same statement, the Secretary noted that the government has paid great attention to the opinions of the public regarding optimization of the electronic consumption benefits plan. The statement went on to say that officials from several departments under the Secretariat for Economy and Finance, “have held recently a total of 15 information sessions and met with representatives from 19 associations, to garner their opinions regarding the plan.”

Lei also noted that, in addition to those sessions and meetings, his office also received opinions from members of the Legislative Assembly, scholars, and individuals from the community.

Last year, the government introduced the first two rounds of prepaid consumption card plan, which distributed a total of 8,000 patacas to every Macau ID holder in two installments from May to December.

The recently presented third round included a different scheme requiring users to spend first before being granted an e-voucher, which could be used as a discount on the next purchase.

Last Tuesday, Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng apologized to the public for the red tape involved in the MOP5 billion e-voucher program, part of the third round of stimulus package announced earlier on March 15. RM