Sulu Sou holds rally as he awaits suspension verdict

Macau’s youngest ever lawmaker might today become its shortest- lived.

Democrat Sulu Sou will find out this afternoon if he is to be suspended from his post in order to undergo an investigation and even possible prosecution.

Although he will not be formally removed from his post, Sou’s suspension will waive his prosecutorial immunity to allow for the investigation. It is widely expected – even by the lawmaker himself – that today’s vote will go against him.

But at a demonstration held last night at the Rotunda de Carlos da Maia (also known as “Three Lamps”), Sou defied the emotionally-charged atmosphere and showed he had not yet been defeated.

Preceded by half a dozen other speakers, including former New Macau Association presidents Scott Chiang and Jason Chao, veteran lawmaker Paul Chan and other political activists in the city, Sou’s rallying calls could be heard from the high street, Avenida Horta e Costa.

Around 300 people filed into the small public area at Three Lamps, encircled by the occasional police vehicle patrolling the roundabout.

Organizer New Macau was clear that the demonstration was not intended to impede or delay the judicial process against Sou. That’s because the recommendation by the relevant body has already been settled and will tomorrow be forwarded to the Legislative Assembly, Macau’s rubber-stamp parliament, for approval.

Accordingly, there was an air of trepidation at last night’s demonstration.

Sou’s optimism could not offset a general feeling that his very short-lived career was drawing to an untimely close, with some of the event speakers seemingly already resigned to the verdict.

The current New Macau president, Kam Sut Leng, recalled to the Times how in just a few years Sou has inspired young people to develop an interest in law and governance, and to take to the streets in defense of their rights.

But she added that the message the government is sending is that “when a young parliament member takes the [initiative] to hold the government responsible, he will face a lawsuit.”

Jason Chao, one of the city’s most prominent political activists, made a video link appearance at yesterday’s rally, where he called on residents to continue to support people like Sou.

“I hope this episode will serve as a reminder for the citizens of Macau that one’s civic responsibility is not confined to casting a ballot,” he said. “What a mere group of enthusiasts in democracy and social justice can achieve is very limited, without the involvement of a wider public.”

Sou, who has been a lawmaker in the Legislative Assembly for just seven weeks, has been the source of a number of controversies, causing considerable embarrassment to the government and to his fellow legislators.

Within his first 50 days, the young democrat was photographed probing the chief executive on whether Macau’s top official ought to assume more responsibility over the handling of Typhoon Hato and also alarmed his colleagues when he broadcasted their closed-door comments on social media.

Other democrat lawmakers – namely Pereira Coutinho, Au Kam San and Ng Kuok Cheong – were ostensibly absent from the demonstration. Asked about their lack of attendance, the New Macau president said only, “We hope that they will come [tonight].”

The demonstrators that did come stood patiently for nearly two hours before Sou finally took to the stage, first recalling his short-lived time as a lawmaker and the four years of involvement at New Macau that led him to the election victory in September.

“We didn’t give out any free breakfasts; we didn’t bribe anyone; we didn’t get support from the big associations or companies… but we still won!”

Nine thousand people voted for Sou in the 2017 Legislative Assembly election. While last night’s turnout represented a only a sliver of this population, the attendees could not be cleanly categorized into any one demographic. They ranged in age from seniors to children and included both Chinese and Portuguese residents from different socio-economic backgrounds.

As lawmaker Chan Wa Keong aptly said last week: these are “Sulu Sou’s people”.