Uber controversy | Gov’t employees told not to support last-ditch ePetition and demonstration

Government employees have allegedly been instructed not to sign an online petition or join a demonstration next week that will urge local authorities to legalize and regulate ride-
hailing app Uber.
According to our sources, who asked not to be identified as they are not authorized to speak to the media, the directive (sent in some cases by email and in others by SMS) instructs the employees of at least three government departments to avoid publicly supporting the company.
One of the sources said that, regardless of the instruction, he intends to stand behind the ride-
hailing app. “No matter what, I am going to support Uber,” he told the Times.
However, another three public servants contacted by MDT said they “haven’t received any such instruction” and two of them admitted to having signed the petition.
The Times was able to review an alleged SMS message delivered from an unidentified broadcast service number, offering a “warm reminder” to government employees. If this did not originate from the government, due questions must be raised how the service was able to acquire the contact details of government employees.
The alleged SMS reads: “warm reminder: Public servants should not take [app-based] taxi services, otherwise the Transport Bureau, once it has discovered such acts, will make an internal report to the [relevant] department [where the employee works]. There was one case involving a guard of the prison, so please do not attempt to do so.”
Ride-hailing app Uber, which is set to withdraw from Macau on September 9 if its last-ditch efforts to negotiate legalization with the government fail, has appealed to its users to sign an online petition to back the service’s continued presence in the region.
The service is exiting the MSAR due to hefty fines that the company says has now exceeded MOP10 million, following what is suspected to have been a police crackdown in recent weeks.
In response, residents have taken to social media to rally each other in support of the company. Some are also noting what they claim is an immediate return of traditional taxi drivers to the poor behavior of the past.
One social media user on the popular Facebook group, Macau Taxi Driver Shame, questioned how the police are “so [adept at] fining the Uber drivers and not the fishing taxis,” while another simply observed, “now that the police [have] won the fight against Uber, they are resting”.
In a statement uploaded to the Uber Macau website (https://action.uber.org/ubermacau/), the company appealed to the community to sign an ePetition calling for the service’s legalization and regulation under Macau law.
“This is a critical moment for Uber in Macau,” the statement read. “Without a clear path to regulatory progress and continued impact and heavy enforcement on riders and drivers, we face a difficult decision regarding our operations in Macau.”
“We need your help. If you want Uber to be able to keep serving Macau, please sign [the petition] to show your support today,” the statement continued. “Let the government know that you believe in choice and innovation in transportation.”
The statement, which is available in Chinese and English, claims that outreach attempts to the government and the submission of over 3,000 letters from the public have not been successful in creating a “meaningful dialogue” with the government.
A similar email was sent to Uber customers, which thanked the community for the thousands of locals who have shown support in “grassroots petition and polls organized by community groups.”
“Now, please join us in our final push,” the company’s message pleaded.
A demonstration organized by the Macao Community Development Initiative  (MCDI) will be held in the afternoon of September 4 in Tap Seac Square in support of the ride-hailing app. It is being led by lawmaker and MCDI vice chairman Au Kam San, who insists that the government is able to draft policies to regulate such services if it wants to.
Last month, China gave the green light to online ride-hailing services, issuing guidelines for the industry and clearing a great deal of uncertainty for firms such as Uber and Didi Chuxing. A few days later it was announced that Uber would sell its China operations to Didi in exchange for a stake in the company.