Explicações por dar

We must be told why Macau shut the door

Leader
South China Morning Post
December 21, 2009

Change is to be expected whenever a new government takes office. Macau's chief executive, Dr Fernando Chui Sai-on, did not disappoint at his inauguration yesterday, pledging policies centred on clean governance and transparency. Such words offer hope after scandals under the previous administration. But hope needs to be fed by action, and the barring of more journalists and political observers from the special administrative region is not an auspicious way to begin.

Two Hong Kong reporters, one on assignment to cover the ceremony, were denied entry by immigration officers on Saturday. They were told they posed a threat to public security - the same unfathomable reason a photographer from this newspaper was in February twice prevented from covering the trial of disgraced former secretary for transport and public works Ao Man-long. More than a dozen pro-democracy activists were also turned back on Saturday. Barring from Macau people anxious to test the openness and transparency Chui spoke of represents not change, but continuation of flawed ways.

The city's Basic Law guarantees freedom of the press and of movement. These are essential if Macau is to grow socially and politically. Chui's promises are hollow without them.

Macau has put much effort into policing the gambling industry to improve its sometimes seedy image. Ao's jailing for corruption illustrates the magnitude of the problem. Journalists have a role to play in bringing to light such issues, and in helping build confidence that the city is serious about tackling the spectre of corruption. Yet the barring of Hong Kong reporters and people eager for the growth of democratic government in China hardens perceptions that authorities have little time for rights and freedoms - all necessary for equitable, peaceful and orderly development.

Chui has promised to usher in a new era for Macau. The preventing of people who can help him bring that about from attending the inauguration of his government augurs poorly. He has to prove he means what he says. Publicly and clearly explaining why the journalists and activists were barred is a sound starting point.

Activistas de Hong Kong novamente barrados

Macau shuts door again as Hu hails security law
We were roughed up by security officers, HK activists say

Fanny W. Y. Fung and Fox Yi Hu in Macau and Ng Kang-chung
South China Morning Post
December 21, 2009

Three more Hong Kong activists were barred from Macau yesterday, where President Hu Jintao lauded the enactment of a controversial national security law and stressed the importance of harmony and stability.

Chui Pak-tai and Richard Tsoi Yiu-cheong, of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, said they had been roughed up by Macau security officers after arriving at the city's main ferry terminal in the morning and before being turned back to Hong Kong.

At the inauguration of the new Macau government yesterday, Hu said in a speech that the city's smooth passage of the security law, under Article 23 of the Basic Law, demonstrated strong commitment to protecting the national interest.

"The smooth completion of the legislation based on Article 23 of Macau's Basic Law early this year shows that the Macau government, the legislature and people of various sectors have a strong sense of responsibility to uphold national security and interest," he said at the Macau Dome.

Hu also praised Macau for its lack of political disputes. "United, people can move mountains," he said.

The president arrived in Macau on Saturday for a two-day trip to mark the 10th anniversary of the return to Chinese rule.

Yesterday, Hu took the unusual step in his speech of highlighting Hong Kong's role in the practising of the "one country two systems" policy. Some analysts said he was putting pressure on Hong Kong to follow Macau in enacting a national security law.

Hu delivered his speech as the three Hong Kong activists were denied entry, following two journalists and more than a dozen activists from the city who were turned away on Saturday.

Chui and Tsoi arrived at the ferry terminal with three other members from the alliance. They planned to petition the central government to release dissident Liu Xiaobo , who has been detained on the mainland since December last year for charges of inciting subversion.

After presenting their identity documents at the checkpoint, they were told they were not allowed to enter. They said they were detained for an hour. Chui said he was dragged, kicked and pushed to the ground.

"One officer kicked me in my private parts. ... I fell back six or seven feet away," he said. Tsoi, vice-chairman of the alliance, said: "After they attacked us, we requested to complain to their department. They just refused," he said.

The pair took a ferry back to Hong Kong. Their three companions, who were allowed to enter Macau, returned with them because they had planned to act together.

Youth Union chairman Kong Kwai-sang was also turned away by Macau, over security concerns. Kong, who was allowed to enter in October, yesterday planned to go to Macau for private meetings with lecturers from the University of Macau.

Dr Fernando Chui Sai-on, who was sworn in as Macau's new chief executive, said his government respected press freedom and that immigration officers had acted in accordance with the law.

A Hong Kong government spokesman said: "We respect the jurisdiction of other places in exercising immigration control in accordance with their rules and laws. We will not seek to interfere with the decisions of other immigration authorities in individual cases."

During the inauguration ceremony, which was attended by Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, Hu took two minutes of his 18-minute speech to stress the importance of the "one country two systems" policy to Hong Kong and Macau. He said that for the policy to advance, it would need the joint effort of the central government, Hong Kong and Macau.

In a speech in Hong Kong in 2007 to mark the 10th anniversary of the city's handover, the president did not mention Macau.

Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan said: "[Hu's words] are a clear order to the Hong Kong government. That this [legislating for national security] is the standard by which good governance is measured."

Dr James Sung Lap-kung, a political scientist at City University, agreed that Hu's remarks showed Beijing had taken it to heart that Hong Kong had not passed Article 23 legislation.

"But Beijing is well aware of the political situation in Hong Kong. Hu knows well that if he presses Tsang to enact the national security law here, it is asking Tsang to commit political suicide."

Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Stephen Lam Sui-lung said the government had no plans to go ahead with national security legislation. He said the Hong Kong government's priority was consultation on the electoral reform proposals.

Executive Council convenor Leung Chun-ying said he did not see Hu's remarks as criticism against Hong Kong, but added that the city should attach importance to what Hu said.

The drafting of a national security law in Hong Kong was shelved in 2003 after half a million people took to the streets in protest against the bill. Critics said it could be abused to curb civil rights and freedoms.

The Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents' Club said the action taken by Macau yesterday was ominous. It said barring the journalists was an attack on press freedom and could damage relations between Hong Kong and Macau.

It said such actions were particularly distressing in the wake of Macau's enactment of national security legislation.

About 1,000 Macau residents staged a protest against corruption, a lack of democracy, excessive labour importation and other social problems.

The protesters, led by democratic legislators Antonio Ng Kuok-cheong, Au Kam-san and Chan Wai-chi, marched from North district to the government headquarters in Nam Van yesterday afternoon.

Dez anos de RAEM em síntese

10 years after handover, wheel of fortune has turned for Macau

Fox Yi Hu
South China Morning Post
December 19, 2009

Riding the coattails of the mainland economy, in a matter of 10 years Macau has changed from being a colonial backwater to the world's gambling capital.

Much of that transformation was driven by millions of cashed-up mainland punters swamping the former Portuguese enclave - the only pace in China where casinos are legal.

Debate on whether Macau has changed for better or worse is hotting up as the 10th anniversary of its handover to China nears.

It's easy to find locals savouring their fatter pay packets and admiring the city's glittering skyline, but there are grumbles loud and long about runaway housing prices, traffic jams and corruption.

Like other residents, Lao Kei-ngai, 60, makes much of Macau's breathtaking economic growth, but hates what he says is a backward political system that is a hotbed of graft.

"The economy and social welfare have improved a lot, but the government's thinking lags far behind," he said. "Grey areas exist under outdated laws and a backward political system, leading to a lot of corruption."

The numbers speak for themselves. The city's gross domestic product, constant at 2002 prices, almost tripled over the decade, from 45.8 billion patacas in 1999 to 133.8 billion patacas in the 12 months to the third quarter of this year.

A four-year streak of real GDP decline was snapped in 2000 - a year after the city reverted to Chinese rule. Per capita GDP at current prices increased from 110,637 patacas in 1999 to 315,825 patacas last year.

Professor Zeng Zhonglu, an economist and gaming analyst at Macau Polytechnic Institute, said the casino hub's growth was unprecedented. "Las Vegas and Atlantic City are no match for Macau when it comes to the speed and duration of growth."

Behind such growth was the mushrooming of casinos, built amid an influx of mainland punters following the liberalisation of the gaming market in 2002. The 2004 launch of Sands Macau, the first Las Vegas-style casino, effectively ended a four-decade monopoly by Stanley Ho Hung-sun, heralding a sea change.

Gaming tax revenue was only 4.8 billion patacas and made up just 48.4 per cent of public revenue in 1999, but this had jumped to 41.9 billion patacas last year, or 72.7 per cent of public revenue, according to the Macau Statistics and Census Service.

The gaming market's liberalisation alone would not have brought about the breakneck growth, which analysts said was more by accident than design.

To revive Hong Kong's economy after the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2003, the central government relaxed travel curbs for millions of mainlanders. Macau, the other special administrative region, was also allowed to benefit from the Individual Visit Scheme, which allows mainlanders to visit the cities without joining a tour group.

The number of gaming tables ballooned from 424 at the end of 2003 to 4,610 in the third quarter this year, while the number of slot machines jumped from 814 to 14,175.

Over the same period, the number of casinos increased from 11 to 20.

Gross gaming revenue was only 23.5 billion patacas in 2002, but it rose to 109.8 billion patacas last year and 83.9 billion patacas in the first three quarters of this year. Zeng ascribes much of Macau's success to its unique status as China's only place where casinos are legal. "Demand for gambling is huge on the mainland. With a well-regulated gaming industry, Macau has a clear edge over foreign casinos near China's border."

Visitor arrivals, including tourists and non-resident workers, surged to 30.2 million last year from just 7.4 million in 1999. Mainlanders account for more than 50 per cent of arrivals.

The rapid expansion of the gaming industry put a squeeze on traditional sectors such as manufacturing, which struggled against rising costs and a labour shortage. Manufacturing contributed 9.4 per cent of GDP in 1999 but only 2.8 per cent last year.

This over-reliance on gambling alerted the central government, with state officials repeatedly calling for the city to diversify its economy.

Median monthly income nearly doubled over the 10 years, from 4,819 patacas in the fourth quarter of 1999 to 8,500 patacas in the third quarter of this year, but such an increase lags behind the threefold per capita GDP growth. The jobless rate dropped from 6.3 per cent in 1999 to 3.7 per cent in the third quarter this year.

Macau observer Dr Camoes Tam Chi-keung said economic progress over the past 10 years was greater than that over the 150 years to 1999.

"Besides air pollution, traffic jams and expensive houses, Macau people are finding their lives better in most aspects," Tam said.

Changes in the city's Gini coefficient - which gauges the gap between rich and poor - and life expectancy suggest an improvement in living standards. The Gini coefficient rose from 0.43 in 1999 to 0.48 in 2006 before dropping sharply to 0.37 last year. A lower reading suggests a smaller wealth gap.

Life expectancy increased from 77.9 in 1999 to 81.5 in 2006.

But Tam said there had been little change in the political system. "Political development really disappoints, with the electoral system stuck in the 1970s - unchanged for 30 years."

Only 12 out of 29 seats in the legislature are directly elected by residents. Seven seats are appointed by the chief executive and the other 10 are returned through functional constituencies.

In 2005, the number of directly elected seats increased from 10 to 12. The chief executive is elected by 300 privileged voters.

Rising living costs, especially flat prices, became a major source of public discontent and fuelled large protests in the past few years. The average price per square foot soared from about 500 patacas in 1999 to 2,500 patacas last year.

An influx of non-resident workers also angered locals, whose wages were dragged down by the availability of cheap mainland labour.

There were 75,944 non-resident workers in October this year, compared with 31,887 in January 2000.

Traffic jams are another source of public discontent. The number of licensed vehicles jumped 64.7 per cent, from 113,814 in January 2000 to 187,463 in October this year.

But the length of public roads grew only 13.7 per cent, from 270 kilometres to 307 kilometres.

Continuous reclamation saw the land area of Macau rising from 23.8 sq km in 1999 to 29.2 sq km last year.

The city's population increased from 430,000 at the end of 1999 to 541,200 in the third quarter this year.

After the handover, the mainland authorities cracked down hard on organised crime; as a result, the gun battles and turf wars rampant in the late 1990s quickly disappeared.

Still, casino-related petty crimes picked up after the liberalisation of the market, with criminal cases rising from 9,262 in 1999 to 13,864 last year.

A survey on cyberctm.com, Macau's most popular internet forum, asks people whether they like the present government or the pre-handover Portuguese government.

Among 161 people who had voted by Tuesday, 62.7 per cent said they liked the Portuguese government, 2.5 per cent said they liked the present government and the rest said they were equally bad.

Duas leis parecidas, uma diferença básica

Two similar sets of laws, one basic difference

Frank Ching (*)
South China Morning Post
December 15, 2009

Following Portugal's Carnation Revolution of 1974, the new socialist government in Lisbon offered to return Macau to China but the offer was turned down. China knew that, if it took back Macau, there would be alarm in Hong Kong. The fates of Macau and Hong Kong were, and still are, very closely connected. In the end, China did not take Macau back until after the handover of Hong Kong from Britain.

Both Hong Kong and Macau were provided with a Basic Law by the National People's Congress. These mini-constitutions are largely similar, but with some significant differences. Each, for example, contains an Article 23 obliging the local government to enact laws prohibiting treason, secession, sedition and subversion against the central government.

With the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region approaching on Sunday, a symposium was held in Beijing a week ago to mark the coming into effect of Macau's Basic Law.

Wu Bangguo, the NPC chairman, had words of praise for Macau that, to many, seemed like veiled criticism of Hong Kong. For one thing, he praised Macau's people because they "did not politicise conflicts and problems" and had properly handled relations between Macau and Beijing.

He also praised the patriotism of Macau's people and said they agreed that "Macau affairs are China's internal affairs" and they "resolutely oppose and resist interference by external forces". Furthermore, he said that the promulgation of Macau's state security law, in line with Article 23, had further strengthened local people's concept of nationhood.

He did not have to mention that Hong Kong has still not implemented Article 23 legislation after the fiasco in 2003, when half a million people marched to oppose the proposal.

No doubt, in Beijing's mind, many people in Hong Kong have not properly handled relations with the central government and so are not even allowed to travel to the mainland. They have also invited "interference by external forces" and politicised "conflicts and problems".

Of course, Chinese officials denied that the words were directed at Hong Kong. Li Gang, a deputy director of the central government's liaison office in Hong Kong, rejected the idea that Wu's remarks were actually criticism of Hong Kong.

Nonetheless, many Hong Kong politicians - and, no doubt, government officials - are interpreting Wu's remarks as pressure on the former British colony to implement Article 23. If this does not happen in the remaining years of Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen's term, no doubt the next chief executive will see it as one of his primary missions.

There are other striking differences between the Macau Basic Law and that of Hong Kong. For one thing, while Hong Kong's legislature is technically fully elected, albeit in various ways, Macau's has appointed members. The Macau Basic Law, speaking of the legislature, says simply: "The majority of its members shall be elected."

Unlike the Hong Kong Basic Law, which says the ultimate goal is the election of both the chief executive and all legislators by universal suffrage, the Macau Basic Law is silent on that point. Since China had two more years to ponder the provisions in the Macau Basic Law, it seems likely that they more accurately reflect Beijing's preferences.

The British lobbied hard for an elected legislature to be put first in the Joint Declaration, and then implemented in the Basic Law. The Portuguese, it seems, did not consider it important. The result is that Macau's much tamer population, which can probably be counted on to return chief executives and legislators acceptable to Beijing, have been denied such a right. Ironically, Hong Kong's much more assertive population is demanding such a right, and Beijing clearly does not feel comfortable about granting it.

(*) Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based writer and commentator.

Tirem-me de Hong Kong!

I'm a Hongkonger - get me out of here

Daniel Sin
South China Morning Post
November 15, 2009

Hong Kong, Iraq and Sri Lanka wouldn't appear to have much in common. Ethnic conflict, suicide bombings and rampant corruption are not the city's hallmarks.

But if an international poll is to be believed, the citizens of all three share the same desire to get the hell out and find somewhere more liveable. And the survey is comprehensive: US consultancy Gallup surveyed 260,000 adults in 135 countries.

Gallop compiled the results to produce a "potential net migration index", which shows the difference between the number of people who would like to leave a country - or, in the case of Hong Kong and some others, a city - and the number who would love to move there. A country's score is recorded as a percentage of its total adult population.

With a score of minus 15 per cent, Hong Kong ranks 65th, on a par with Mexico, Iraq and Sri Lanka. Since people can hardly be queuing to migrate to any of those countries for a new life, they owe their scores to the number of citizens rushing for the exits. And so it is with Hong Kong, if Gallup is right: a million more people, a seventh of the population, want to leave the city than move to it.

Perhaps more galling to Hong Kong boosters, Singapore topped the charts with a score of plus 260 per cent.

The second most attractive country was Saudi Arabia (perhaps explained by the fact polling in the Gulf states was confined to resident and expatriate Arabs), followed, less surprisingly, by New Zealand, Canada and Australia. Mainland China came in 41st, on minus five per cent.

Immigration consultant Benny Cheung Kai-hei said his firm handled more applications from Hongkongers wanting to migrate than from people wanting to come to the city.

He said many Hongkongers were on the lookout for a better environment for their children, as they found the city's welfare and education systems unfavourable. "It is also overpopulated, with heavy traffic congestion and serious air pollution," said Cheung, director of Goldmax International.

Immigration consultant Richard Aziz Butt said the government was not doing enough to attract expatriates to settle in Hong Kong.

Butt said the Capital Investment Entrant Scheme, which requires an entrant to invest HK$6.5 million in property or stocks, was not applicable to potential migrants who just wanted to come to set up a small business.

Many clients told him that people in Hong Kong "made too many complaints", he said. "They protest over very small matters - even lawmakers are quarrelling with each other - and racial discrimination is widespread."

Butt said many members of ethnic minorities were leaving the city; he says he has helped about 300 families move elsewhere in the past couple of years.

Eddie Kwan King-hung, of EK Immigration Consultant Ltd, is a bit more sceptical.

"The survey might have overlooked the fact there is a quota of 150 mainland Chinese who are allowed to move to Hong Kong [each day]," Kwan said.

He said the city was a popular destination for many mainland Chinese, who applied to become Hong Kong residents through the Quality Migrant Admission Scheme and the capital investment entrant scheme.

"Compare this to the number of Hong Kong people migrating overseas, which has dropped to less than 11,000 a year from the peak of 90,000 in the 1990s," Kwan said.

In Causeway Bay yesterday, born-and-bred Hongkonger Mr Pang said he had absolutely no intention of leaving the city because his lifestyle was better in Hong Kong, with its reasonable prices.

Besides, he said, he didn't have the money to move elsewhere, given that many countries required considerable wealth to achieve the same lifestyle as he enjoys now.

Robert Raufer, a visitor from the US, said if he were to move to Hong Kong, he would consider factors such as air quality, lifestyle and health issues.

"Hong Kong should do more about air pollution," he said.

Nota: no estudo da Gallup, Portugal ficou no 23.º lugar do índice de "aprazibilidade", a par da Malásia, Holanda e Itália. Nada mau...

A concorrência (que virá) de Singapura

Singapore casinos to raise the stakes
Big-budget resorts bet on 'wow' factors such as theme parks to lure punters from Macau

Neil Gough, in Singapore
South China Morning Post
November 02, 2009

Macau may be Asia's Las Vegas, but Singapore is lifting the ante in a matter of months with the opening of two of the most expensive casino resorts in the world.

The final budget has not yet been set for Las Vegas Sands Corp's 2,500-room Marina Bay Sands, due to begin opening in phases from early next year. But at about US$6 billion, the latest cost estimates make it more than twice as expensive to build as the company's 3,000-room Venetian Macao and five times as much as rival Wynn Macau.

Trailing not far behind by project cost is the 59-hectare Resorts World theme park resort on Sentosa Island being built by Malaysia's Genting Group, the second half of the rising Singaporean duopoly.

Genting's resort will cost an estimated US$4.7 billion at current exchange rates - still almost double the cost of the Venetian Macao, the world's largest casino.

However, in addition to hefty project budgets, which are being financed largely by loans from Singaporean banks, a number of challenging regulatory and strategic questions remain over exactly how the city state's twin casinos will stack up against Macau and other destinations in competing for Asia's gambling dollars.

Both the city state's casino developers are betting big that "wow" factors such as a 200-metre-high "skypark" or a 24-ride Universal Studios theme park will lure punters, business travellers and holidaymakers from across Asia to their Singapore resorts.

"It's going to be a destination by itself," says Marina Bay Sands' executive vice-president of operations Ronen Nissenbaum. "People will come to Singapore to be at this site and say: 'I've been there, I've done that, I've got the T-shirt'."

The three 55-storey towers of Marina Bay Sands have already topped off and construction workers last week were busy installing a labyrinth of ventilation ducts. The resort plans to go from 350 staff to 10,000 as it opens in phases from early next year.

The roof of the towering project will feature a "skypark" that is longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall and includes a huge swimming pool, viewing platform and a number of bars and restaurants.

Also on offer will be six celebrity chef restaurants, more than 300 retail shops including a "Louis Vuitton Island" accessed by underwater tunnel, a convention centre and two theatres that will open with Disney's Lion King stage musical as one of the resident shows.

The casino at the resort will span 15,000 square metres of gaming space over four floors, including two floors dedicated to VIP gaming. The property will employ 4,500 casino-focused staff, according to executives.

The hotel will feature just under 2,500 standard rooms and, for the ultra-big spenders, 230 suites that range from two to 10 rooms and cover 743 square metres. "Our rates are going to be the highest in the market," Nissenbaum said.

Genting's Sentosa project is set to open early next year with the Universal theme park and rides such as duelling roller coasters, a Jurassic Park-themed water ride and a Shrek-themed fantasy land. It will also launch with the casino, a theatre, restaurants and four of six hotels that will total 1,800 rooms.

"There will be gaming, definitely. But in terms of positioning, we see that we are going to be different from Macau," said Edward Koh Boon Wee, the Singapore Tourism Board's chief representative and regional director for Greater China. "Singapore has always been perceived as a very family-friendly destination and we want to continue with that image."

In terms of pure casino economics, Singapore should be extremely competitive in luring high rollers, which account for about 65 per cent of all casino winnings in Macau.

The effective tax rate on VIP gaming revenue in Singapore is 12 per cent, compared with 39 per cent in Macau. This means casinos in Singapore are free to pay out higher levels of rebates to high-stakes players, a common practice in the industry.

Likewise, casinos will be able to pay higher commissions to VIP junket agents, the marketing middlemen that in Macau and other Asian gaming jurisdictions function as bankers to high rollers.

Junkets bring high-stakes players to casinos, issue them credit for gambling and collect their debts - often through extrajudicial means in places such as China, where gaming debt is not enforceable through the courts.

However, many of the VIP junket agents that operate in Macau may not be licensable in Singapore because of "suitability" requirements, which are expected to be enforced stringently. While both casinos say they plan to open around the first quarter of next year, Singapore has yet to publish detailed regulations on junkets or to begin the licensing process.

"We have reasons to believe that very few, if any, junket reps, particularly of the Macau style, will be allowed or will want to be licensed in Singapore," Las Vegas Sands chairman and majority shareholder Sheldon Adelson said last week on an investors' conference call.

As a result, Marina Bay Sands plans to partially cut out the junket middlemen and will issue credit and rebates directly to players. "We are gearing up for very strong direct credit and direct play," Adelson said.

Perhaps more important will be the mass market, or non-high rollers: the businessmen, tourists, shoppers and local punters who are expected to fill hotel rooms, shopping centres and theme parks and account for most of non-credit casino play.

But Singaporean locals will face an entry fee of S$100 (HK$555) for a single visit to the casino. Problem gamblers will be able to voluntarily add themselves to a list of people excluded from entering the casinos, as in some Western jurisdictions (but not in Macau). But Singapore has taken this concept a step further - allowing concerned family members to add gamblers to the blacklist.

"There's no doubt that an entry fee is a certain barrier; the question is whether it is one that can be easily overcome or not," Nissenbaum said.

"You have to start from a pretence that Singapore did not decide to open these two resorts to make them unsuccessful."

Indeed, when it comes to luring mass-market tourists from the mainland and Hong Kong, Singapore hopes to compete against Macau by selectively targeting bigger spenders.

"Macau and Hong Kong attract more than a million mainland visitors every month and we only attract a million mainland visitors a year," said Koh of the tourism board, which oversaw the casino resort tendering process. "We are reaching out very carefully to the higher-yield markets of the mainland."

And what if Beijing chooses to restrict visas on mainlanders travelling to Singapore? The central government has done as much in regard to Macau since last year in an attempt to control runaway expansion of gambling among mainlanders.

"If the central government felt that there was a threat to [Macau's] gaming revenue or its position as a destination resort, they could change the visa programme for Singapore in 10 seconds," Wynn Resorts chairman Steve Wynn said last week on a conference call.

"Singapore can be very successful in its own right," said Wynn, who withdrew from bidding for a Singapore gaming licence in 2006 and last month listed his Macau business on the Hong Kong stock market. "But it being a threat to Macau is not a thing that we're worried about," he said.

Fraude com cartão de crédito em Macau

Businessman loses nearly HK$2.5m as bank refuses to stop fraudulent payment

Paggie Leung
South China Morning Post
October 27, 2009

A Hong Kong businessman who lost nearly HK$2.5 million because of a fraudulent transaction in Macau has complained that his bank on the mainland failed to stop the payment.

Marcus Wong Chi-ming yesterday said he received a mobile phone text message from the Bank of Communications' Shenzhen branch about an overseas transaction of more than 2.19 million yuan (HK$2.49 million) made with his China UnionPay debit card at 4.44am on October 14.

The 39-year-old trading company owner - who said he was in Hong Kong when the transaction was made - discovered the message when he woke up around 8am. He had only about HK$14,000 left in his account.

He immediately called and travelled to Shenzhen to request the bank stop the payment, but the bank asked him to contact police instead.

"Although at that time the bank had debited the amount from my debit card, it had not transferred the money to [the bank card network operator] China UnionPay yet," Wong said. "It should have frozen the transaction."

It usually took more than 24 hours for the bank to transfer the money to China UnionPay and then to the retailer for transactions made outside the mainland, he said.

He usually received a mobile phone text message within a minute after purchasing items with his debit card, he said. But after this incident, he questioned the purpose of the service because the bank would not stop a fraudulent transaction anyway.

He reported the case to Shenzhen police, and the bank told him the next day that the money had gone to a jewellery shop in Macau but that China UnionPay would only be able to provide more details, such us the name of the shop, in about 30 days.

It would take another 180 days or more for the card operator to investigate what went wrong.

"I was very shocked because apart from the fact that the purchase was made at 4.44am, it is very strange that the transaction was made in one go. It should be very difficult to transfer more than two million yuan away from the mainland," Wong said.

Police told him that he was not the only victim and there were other cases in which transactions were made to the US and Russia. Wong said he had a similar experience before, with a card issued by a Hong Kong bank, but the fraudulent transaction was terminated successfully.

Legislator Paul Tse Wai-chun, who is helping Wong get his money back, said he would contact the bank and Shenzhen police. He would also liaise with the mainland and local authorities to see if there was any loophole in the system.

"We want to bring to the public's notice that it seems impossible to stop a fraudulent transaction [when using cards issued by mainland banks]," Tse warned.

China UnionPay and Bank of Communications could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Questões perturbadoras na extradição de Zhou Y.

Zhou extradition raises disturbing questions

Frank Ching (*)
South China Morning Post
October 26, 2009

At the press conference following the policy address, Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen was asked: "Did the Hong Kong government return Zhou Yongjun, a student leader from Tiananmen, to mainland authorities rather than send him back to Macau, as his family alleged a few days ago?"

The chief executive responded that Hong Kong, "like every other government," is unable to comment on individual immigration cases. "Anyone who travels with a false document will be treated accordingly. He'll be sent back to wherever is appropriate. That is established policy."

Actually, that isn't quite the case. Three days previously, in response to media enquiries concerning this case, the government issued a statement that said in part: "In general, a passenger whose travel document does not meet the entry requirements will be repatriated to his or her place of embarkation or origin."

So, following established policy, Zhou should have been sent back to Macau. After all, he had arrived from Macau bearing a Malaysian passport in the name Wang Xingxiang. Hong Kong authorities suspected, correctly it turned out, that there was a problem with his passport. But, instead of sending him back to Macau, he was sent to Shenzhen. Why?

Democratic Party Chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, who is Zhou's legal representative, is threatening to sue the government. He called the case, which has been widely publicised internationally, the biggest challenge to the "one country, two systems" policy. It is certainly giving Hong Kong a bad name.

Many have asked why Zhou, who has an American green card, was not sent back to the US.

But, it appears, the Hong Kong authorities may not have known that Zhou was a green card holder. In fact, they may not have known the Tiananmen connection. Still, why send him to Shenzhen?

It turns out that the mainland public security authorities had been looking for a Wang Xingxiang. The Chinese security authorities had issued a warrant on July 25, 2000, for the arrest of Zhang Hongbao, who the police said had assumed the name Wang Xingxiang.

Zhang was the founder of the Zhong Gong qigong organisation, which at one time had more followers than Falun Gong. The organisation operated businesses and held vast assets. But both Falun Gong and Zhong Gong were banned in 1999. Zhang fled to the US where, in addition to being a spiritual leader, he called himself president of China's "shadow government". He was killed in a car crash in 2006, and reportedly left substantial assets under different names in various countries.

Zhou had worked for Zhang. After Zhang's death, Zhong Gong held a press conference, which was chaired by Zhou. Since then, there have been reports of disputes over Zhang's assets, including a Hang Seng Bank account with more than HK$13 million.

The indictment against Zhou in Sichuan accuses him of having sent a letter to Hang Seng Bank requesting the transfer of HK$4 million held in the name Wang Xingxiang.

It seems likely that the Hong Kong police knew that mainland authorities were looking for a Wang Xingxiang who was wanted for criminal, not political, offences.

Still, there is no rendition, or extradition, agreement between Hong Kong and the mainland. In this case, when a person arrived in Hong Kong holding a questionable passport, the proper thing to do, as the government has said repeatedly, was to return him to where he had come from.

The alternative was to arrest Zhou, or Wang, and bring him to trial in Hong Kong. There is no legitimate reason to have him sent to the mainland. Even if the name Wang Xingxiang had been on an Interpol warrant, the usual procedure would be to put him under arrest here, with a view to extradition to the country sought him. He would not have been extraditable to the mainland.

Hong Kong violated its own established policy. The question is why?

(*) Frank Ching is a Hong Kong-based writer and commentator

Ainda sobre a entrega de Zhou Yongjun à China

Handing of dissident to mainland raises questions

Leader
South China Morning Post
October 18, 2009

The case of exiled mainland dissident Zhou Yongjun is becoming an embarrassment for the government and a challenge to the principle of "one country, two systems". More than a year after he was refused entry into Hong Kong from Macau, the circumstances in which he ended up in the hands of the mainland authorities remain largely a mystery.

It appears that after being kept for two days by local immigration officials, he was taken to Shenzhen and is now being held in Sichuan on fraud charges.

Zhou is a former student leader of the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. Given his role as a dissident, questions have inevitably arisen as to the motives behind his arrest. So far, Hong Kong officials have refused to comment on the circumstances of the case. As a result, concerns are being raised about whether our city's separate system and autonomy on immigration matters have been compromised. Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen is facing calls for an official inquiry.

There is no rendition agreement between Hong Kong and the mainland. Normally, someone who tried to enter the city with suspicious travel documents would either be prosecuted in Hong Kong or sent back to where they came from. In Zhou's case, that would have been Macau. Alternatively, he could have been returned to the United States where he holds a green card, or permanent work permit. Or perhaps the mainland was taken to be his place of origin. Officials have not revealed their reasoning - and that only leads to suspicion.

According to Zhou's partner, Zhang Yuewei, Hong Kong immigration officials told Zhou they needed to verify his identity. He was taken to a car that drove him directly to Shenzhen and has been detained on the mainland ever since. Zhang says she was told of the sequence of events by Zhou's lawyers in Sichuan. The full picture has not emerged. There is an urgent need for the government to clarify the position.

The 42-year-old dissident spent several years in a mainland jail during the late 1990s. He travelled to Hong Kong from Macau on September 28 last year. As we report today, his partner says it was inmates in Shenzhen who first alerted her to his detention there. In May, his family was finally told that he was charged with fraud and being detained in Sichuan. What is even more puzzling is that he allegedly committed the fraud in Hong Kong. If so, why is he being tried on the mainland instead of facing justice before our courts?

It was foolish of Zhou, to say the least, to try to enter Hong Kong with a fake Malaysian passport, if that is what he did. Such actions cannot be condoned. But it is difficult to see the legal basis for sending him to the mainland. How was the decision made? What procedures were followed? Are there any safeguards in place to ensure the system is not abused? None of these questions have been answered.

Zhou's case is more disturbing than several previous high-profile cases involving suspects being detained and tried on the mainland, though they committed crimes in Hong Kong. They include "Big Spender" Cheung Tze-keung and Telford Gardens murderer Li Yuhui, who were both executed. In those cases, the suspects were first apprehended on the mainland; not so with Zhou. The Zhou affair will not go away quietly. The government must come clean and explain what really happened.

Como Hong Kong entregou um dissidente à China

How HK handed over a dissident

Fox Yi Hu
South China Morning Post
October 18, 2009

A Chinese US resident arrives in Hong Kong from Macau on a Malaysian passport under an assumed name, is told there is a "problem", then, after two days' detention, is put in a car by immigration officers, whisked across the border and handed over to mainland authorities.

Weeks pass with no word of his whereabouts, until his partner and the mother of their 18-month-old daughter receives phone calls and an e-mail from a former Shenzhen prison inmate saying he is in a jail there. Prison staff deny it, then four months later a former inmate of another Shenzhen jail says he has seen him there - under another name. Still officials deny the man is there.

Sounds like the opening chapter of a thriller or the first scene of a film noir? It's not.

It's the story of Zhou Yongjun, a dissident leader of the 1989 Tiananmen student uprising, according to his familiy and to a statement he gave a lawyer while imprisoned in his native Sichuan.

In the eyes of Zhou's Hong Kong lawyer, it is the biggest challenge to the "one country, two systems" formula since the handover.

To a leading immigration consultant in the city it is unlawful, inexplicable and without precedent.

To Zhou's girlfriend and the mother of his child, Zhang Yuewei , it is a frightening conspiracy to abuse his human rights.

Neither Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen nor his government will comment on the case.

Zhang, 33, who flew to Hong Kong last week to publicise Zhou's plight, spoke of the family's painful search to establish Zhou's whereabouts following his disappearance.

She last saw Zhou, 42, a US green card holder who runs an employment service, on September 26 last year.

"He insisted on going because he wanted to visit his family. His father has had a stroke and is partially paralysed, and his mother has heart disease. We had a quarrel over it," she recalls. (Zhou, who escaped to the US in 1992, three years after the bloody crackdown that ended the Tiananmen protests, returned to the mainland - via Hong Kong - in 1998 and was jailed for three years for entering the country illegally. He returned to the US in 2002.)

Much of her knowledge about what has happened to him since has come from the lawyer who met him in a jail in Sichuan - where he faces court proceedings for a crime allegedly committed in Hong Kong.

She said Zhou had tried in vain to obtain a mainland visa, before buying a Malaysian passport in the name of Wang Xingxiang from a travel agent in Los Angeles, where the couple live. On September 28, he travelled from Macau to Hong Kong on the Malaysian passport.

Immigration officers suspected his passport was forged and police held him at the Sheung Wan ferry terminal for 48 hours before handing him back to immigration officers. Zhang said the officers told Zhou they needed to verify his identity, but then put him in a car and drove him straight to a small hotel in Shenzhen.

Zhou told his mainland lawyer: "I thought it was OK to go to Hong Kong. But the Hong Kong immigration said the passport was problematic. I did not reveal my real identity to the Hong Kong police."

Zhang said she received calls and e-mails in late November and early December from a former inmate of a Shenzhen prison.

"The person gave an accurate description of Zhou and his family background. He said Zhou was kept in the Shenzhen No 1 Jail," she said. Zhou's sister, who works as a judge in Sichuan, flew to Shenzhen to visit the jail. Staff denied he was being held there.

In March, a former inmate of another jail, in Shenzhen's Yantian district, tipped off Zhou's family that he was being held there. He also gave an accurate description of Zhou.

According to the informant, while in the Yantian jail Zhou was forced to change his name to Wang Hua. "When I learned they had changed his name, I realised it was highly dangerous," Zhang said. "What if he were executed? How would we know?"

In May, more than seven months after he was allegedly delivered into mainland custody by Hong Kong immigration staff, Zhou's family was told he had been arrested on fraud charges and was being detained by the authorities in Sichuan. According to an indictment by prosecutors in Shehong county, Zhou had tried to transfer money from an account at Hang Seng Bank in Hong Kong to two banks, in the city and in Australia, using the false name Wang Xingxiang.

Immigration consultant Richard Aziz Butt said the Hong Kong government's handling of Zhou was unlawful. The Immigration Ordinance stated that anyone found in possession of or using a false instrument (such as a fake passport) should be prosecuted by a court of law.

If the Immigration Department was uncertain about Zhou's identity, it should have sent him to Macau or Malaysia, Butt said. Indeed, a government spokesman said: "In general, a passenger whose travel document does not meet the entry requirements will be repatriated to his or her place of embarkation or origin."

Butt said: "I can't understand why they sent him back to the mainland. I have never before seen a case handled like this in Hong Kong. It makes a mockery of our judicial system."

The Immigration Department said it would not comment on individual cases.

For Zhang, now back in Los Angeles, the fight for justice continues (Zhou's Hong Kong lawyer, Albert Ho Chun-yan, plans to sue the government). So does the wait to see him again - one his family shares.

"His mother has asked whether she will be able to see him again before she dies," Zhang said.

O meteorologista amador de Macau

Macau's amateur weatherman warned off

Fox Yi Hu
South China Morning Post
October 18, 2009

A popular amateur weatherman in Macau known for his accurate typhoon forecasts has run into a spot of turbulence.

Towin Mak, a singer-songwriter and self-confessed meteorology addict, has been monitoring Macau's weather for more than two decades. His typhoon forecasts on the internet often came earlier than the meteorological bureau's and have helped hundreds of residents plan their outdoor activities around the weather.

But the internet account with which he made forecasts in a popular online forum has been banned. In July, he was invited to the Judiciary Police bureau for a "chat", where an officer told Mak that while it was not against the law to post weather forecasts, he should avoid causing a public disturbance with his forecasts.

A police bureau spokesman said it would not take action against unofficial weather forecasts on the internet unless someone claimed to be a victim of such forecasts.

Despite the ban, it would be difficult to prise Mak away from his favourite obsession.

"I am addicted to it. In the past 28 years, I've been trying to follow almost every storm." He depends on the constantly updated meteorological graphs from Taiwan's observatory website to analyse typhoons, often staying up late to study the latest graphs. "When Typhoon Koppu came, I stayed up until 7am."

Mak began posting forecasts online in 2006 - and found fans in residents who relied on travel on the cross-harbour bridges, casino workers who were contract-bound to go to work in all weather, and parents ferrying their children around.

Before he went online, friends, relatives and even shipping firms that had heard of him would call him with inquiries during the windy season.

Mak admitted that his forecasts sometimes differed from those by the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau, but he stood by the accuracy of most of his forecasts. For instance, when Typhoon Morakot was near in early August, Mak issued typhoon signal No 8 but the observatory hoisted only signal No 3. Mak defended his prediction, saying the wind speeds at the three cross-harbour bridges were 85km/h to 90km/h - higher than the 63km/h mark used to justify a signal No 8.

In Hong Kong, a private weather-forecasting website, known as the "underground observatory", has been running since 1995.

The Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau of Macau did not respond to an inquiry.

Alargamento do Legco e da Comissão Eleitoral

Expansion of election panel, Legco on table

Gary Cheung
South China Morning Post
October 17, 2009

The government is again considering expanding the Election Committee that will pick the next chief executive in 2012 and making the Legislative Council bigger.

It made similar proposals four years ago for elections in 2007 and last year which Legco vetoed, but constitutional affairs minister Stephen Lam Sui-lung said the administration would not recycle those ideas.

The government will begin a public consultation next month on possible options for electoral reform in 2012. Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said yesterday he was committed to achieving a "much more democratic" electoral system by then.

Speaking on a Metro Finance radio programme yesterday, Lam said it was crucial the community gained experience in constitutional development in 2012. "The implementation of universal suffrage in 2017 would be smoother if we do a `warm- up' first in 2012," he said.

Lam said the government would strive to inject more democratic elements into the electoral arrangements for 2012.

He said the administration was considering expanding the Election Committee and Legco.

"Increasing the number of Legco seats would provide more room for representatives from various sectors to participate in politics," Lam said.

The chief executive, who was speaking on an RTHK Radio 3 phone-in programme, said the existing method of electing functional constituency legislators did not meet the criteria for universal suffrage.

Tsang said it was up to local people to decide whether functional constituencies should be retained or abolished, but any changes to the electoral system had to secure a two-thirds majority in the legislature. "Half of our lawmakers come from functional constituencies. They need to be persuaded they should go self-destruct for the good of other people," he said.

Tsang insisted he had honoured the pledge he made when re-elected two years ago to resolve the issue of universal suffrage - by securing a timetable for its introduction from the National People's Congress Standing Committee.

In 2005, the government proposed doubling the Election Committee's membership to 1,600. As part of this, all 529 district councillors - including 102 appointed by the government - would have had a seat on the committee. It proposed expanding the number of lawmakers by 10, to 70 - with five directly elected and five chosen by district councillors.

Controvérsia na reforma do Legco em Hong Kong

Tsang says Legco trade seats need to change
Consultation to look at functional constituencies

Ambrose Leung and Albert Wong
South China Morning Post
October 16, 2009

The legislature's functional constituencies cannot survive in their present form and their future will be addressed in next month's consultation on the 2012 Legislative Council elections, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen said yesterday.

The chief executive said the controversial trade-based seats were "not totally compatible with the principles of equal and universal suffrage" and this would be a question to consider when designing electoral arrangements for the 2012 and 2016 Legco elections.

It was the clearest indication yet by Tsang that the trade-based seats, which now make up half the 60-seat legislature, will be modified.

Beijing has said universal suffrage can be introduced for the Legco election in 2020 and the chief executive election in 2017.

The chief executive's words drew a storm of criticism from democrats, who took them as a signal that the functional constituencies, which they want abolished, will stay.

"Functional constituencies in their present form are not totally compatible with the principles of equal and universal suffrage," Tsang, who barely mentioned electoral reform in his policy address on Wednesday, said during a rowdy question-and-answer session.

"They cannot be kept in their present form under the electoral system for Legco in 2020," he said. "Of course, we have to consider this issue in designing the methods for the elections in 2012 and 2016."

But Tsang also remained adamant that the consultation on reforms for 2012 would not include reference to the chief executive and all members of Legco being elected by universal suffrage in 2017 and 2020 respectively.

"I am worried that this will again result in no progress being made. I truly hope that nobody will create new obstacles in the path of reaching a consensus over the election methods on 2012," Tsang said. Citing the pan-democrats' blocking of the 2005 reform proposal, which they considered undemocratic, Tsang urged lawmakers to "learn the lesson" and "pursue democracy, rather than pursue the subject of democracy".

During the 90-minute session, Tsang brushed aside criticism that he had breached his 2007 election promise to resolve the question of universal suffrage during his term.

He said Beijing's decision in December 2007 ruling out universal suffrage in 2012 but allowing it to be introduced as early as 2017 was "almost the biggest landmark for constitutional reform" in Hong Kong's 150-year history. Asking Beijing to reverse that decision would be "almost mission impossible", he said.

Currently, all 3.3 million registered voters can vote for the 30 geographical constituency lawmakers, but only 230,000 can vote in the functional constituencies. Furthermore, 150,000 of those 230,000 voters are concentrated in one constituency - labour, which has three seats - prompting further criticism that the system puts too much power in the hands of an unrepresentative few.

Tsang's remarks angered Democratic Party vice-chairwoman Emily Lau Wai-hing. Her party and its allies have long called for functional constituencies to be abolished.

"Are you trying to tell Hong Kong people that even if we do have a fully elected legislature in 2020, there will still be traces of functional constituencies? That you will retain them in disguise?"

Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, said the impression he received was that functional constituencies would be there to stay if they were amended somehow - which he suspected was Beijing's solution for maintaining a check on the pan-democrats in the legislature.

O dia de todas as decisões

O South China Morning Post de hoje destaca a recuperação da selecção portuguesa na luta pelo apuramento para o próximo Mundial de futebol. Esperemos que não haja nenhum contratempo esta noite. Força, Portugal!

Portuguese to confirm play-off slot against Malta

Mitch Phillips in London

South China Morning Post
October 14, 2009

Portugal look likely to complete a remarkable World Cup recovery when a home victory over Malta today will secure them a place in the play-offs for the 2010 finals that looked way beyond their reach a few months ago.

Switzerland and Slovakia look set to secure the two remaining automatic European slots while there are also four play-off berths up for grabs on the final night of qualifying.

Most of Europe's big guns are already booking their accommodation in South Africa, though France still have to run the gauntlet of the now-seeded November play-offs.

While France, runners-up in the 2006 final, are disappointed to have finished second behind Serbia, Portugal - the side they beat in the semi-finals three years ago - will be overjoyed to join them in the play-offs.

After starting their group one campaign with a win over Malta they lost at home to Denmark then produced three successive goalless draws, including at home to Albania.

In June they were heading for what would have been another calamitous 1-1 draw in Albania when Bruno Alves popped up with a winner two minutes into injury time.

Defeat away to eventual group winners Denmark also looked on the cards in September until Liedson grabbed an 86th-minute equaliser for a 1-1 draw four minutes from time.

The late goals, coming alongside Sweden and Hungary dropping points, prized the door back open and a 3-0 home win over Hungary last Saturday combined with Sweden's late loss to Denmark completed the unlikely turnaround.

Now, they again have control of their own destiny.

Even without the injured Cristiano Ronaldo it would be unthinkable for Portugal to fail to beat Malta in Guimaraes. If it happened though, a draw could let in Sweden, who are at home to Albania, while even Hungary have an outside chance if they win in Denmark.

On paper group three looks even more congested, with four teams still chasing the top two places. In reality, however, Switzerland, three points clear, should get the point they need at home to Israel to secure automatic qualification while Greece should go into the play-offs with a home win over Luxembourg.

Even if Israel manage to win in Switzerland they would still need Greece to lose or draw while Latvia need to thrash Moldova and pray for an unlikely Luxembourg success.

Slovenia's 2-0 win in Slovakia on Saturday ensured group three would go to the wire, although Slovakia still look well placed to reach the finals for the first time.

They are two points clear of Slovenia and visit Poland, who are now out of the running. Slovenia should win at San Marino, which will secure a play-off berth and would send them through automatically if Slovakia fail to win.

Czech Republic must beat Northern Ireland and hope San Marino claim an unlikely draw.

Ukraine's 1-0 win over already-qualified England on Saturday leapfrogged them above Croatia in group six and another win in Andorra will secure second place.

Croatia must win at Kazakhstan to have any chance.

The play-off berths go to the best eight runners-up from the nine European groups. Norway, second in the five-team group six, look to be the ones to miss out, though there is a mathematical chance of them making it if group one produces a highly unlikely trio of results.

Impedimentos dos titulares de cargos políticos

Ho vows to usher in law on post-retirement work
Chief executive to bring in legislation before end of year

Fox Yi Hu
South China Morning Post
October 2, 2009

A long-awaited law to restrict officials' post-retirement work in the private sector may be enacted by the end of the year, when the current Macau government leaves office.

Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah on Wednesday pledged to have such a law ready before a government led by his successor, Dr Fernando Chui Sai-on, comes in. Ho is due to step down on December 19.

"People don't have to worry. All principal officials in this government, including the chief executive, will be subject to the rule," Ho said at the airport before flying to Beijing for the National Day parade.

He said the Executive Council had been drafting a bill that would soon be submitted to the legislature. But details of the bill, such as the length of time for which officials will be banned from working in private firms, have yet to be announced.

Re-elected legislator Jose Coutinho said Macau residents had been vocal in calling for such a law.

"Problems of corruption and collusion have been exposed in the government. The public is demanding rules to ensure fairness and transparency," he said.

Former public works minister Ao Man-long was jailed in April for 28 years and six months on 81 counts of bribe-taking, money laundering and other crimes.

Political commentator Professor Larry So Man-yum said the public outcry in Hong Kong over a developer's job offer to former housing chief Leung Chin-man had prompted calls in Macau for restrictions on officials' post-retirement work.

"Macau people have learned from the Leung Chin-man controversy," he said. "In the past legislative poll, several election teams stressed the need for rules regarding officials' post-retirement work."

A public uproar last year followed the Hong Kong government's approval of Leung's application to work with New World China Land (NWCL).

Leung was director of housing when the government sold the Hunghom Peninsula housing estate in 2004 for barely half the asking price to a consortium including NWS Holdings, the conglomerate flagship of New World Development, which owns NWCL. He was offered the job one year after his retirement. A Legislative Council inquiry is now being carried out.

In Hong Kong, a directorate-grade official is subject to a one-year "sanitisation period" after retirement before being allowed to work in the private sector, in addition to a three-year "control period" allowing some flexibility.

In the case of a permanent secretary, the control period and the sanitisation period run concurrently. No employment is allowed within the sanitisation period except unpaid work for charitable, academic or non-profit organisations.

The Hong Kong rules compare with a two-year restriction period in Britain, and one year in the United States and Canada. Singapore has a much stricter system with a five-year ban in certain categories.

Macau has rules restricting officials only at the levels of bureau heads and deputy bureau heads. After retirement, such officials are subject to a six-month ban from working in fields related to their government work.

Legislator Au Kam-san said it was strange that under the Macau system, department deputies were restricted but their bosses were not.

Susana Chou, outgoing president of Macau's Legislative Assembly, said in July that it was a great pity that the legislation regarding high officials' post-retirement work could not be completed in her term.

She said that since 2006, she had been asking the government to submit a bill, but some "irresponsible officials" had resisted the legislation. Chou did not name the officials.

Compra de votos nas eleições legislativas

Vote-buying not as obvious but still widespread
Crackdown fails to stop giveaways

Fox Yi Hu
South China Morning Post
September 25, 2009

Despite a crackdown on vote-buying, the practice went underground and ballot-rigging through giveaways remained widespread in Macau's legislative election on Sunday.

Eilo Yu Wing-yat, assistant professor of politics at the University of Macau, said candidates appeared more constrained in campaigning compared with the 2005 legislative poll.

"Vote-buying turned low-key but the problem has not gone," he said. "Supermarket coupons worth a few hundred patacas were still being handed out at dinner parties."

The hawker-like agents seen openly walking around Macau streets offering freebies or directly buying votes in 2005 were not visible in the latest poll. But free meals and free rides were widely used to influence voters' decisions on and before polling day on Sunday.

It is widely known that in the 2005 poll, voter permits had a price of 500 patacas. Those receiving the cash would hand their permits to vote-buying agents, who returned them on polling day, with the expectation that the voter would opt for the favoured candidate.

But the government this year scrapped the use of such permits, allowing registered voters to simply use their Macau identity cards when casting ballots. Macau's Commission Against Corruption hailed the rule change as a deterrent to electoral fraud. However, there was still organised vote-buying in the build-up to the election, with the market price for each ballot ranging from 500 to 700 patacas.

Last Friday, graft-busters arrested a number of people who allegedly ran a vote-buying operation.

Their vote-buying task was subcontracted out three times and those dealing directly with voters offered to pay 500 to 700 patacas per ballot.

Although there were no voter permits, the alleged vote-buyers had been collecting identity documents from voters.

On the same day, graft-busters searched the office of a charity run by candidates Lai Cho-wai and Kuan Vai-lam and took away computers and documents.

Lai and Kuan said they were not involved in vote-buying and had no idea what the search was about.

Business has boomed at large Chinese restaurants in the past few months and restaurateurs openly admitted that it was due to election-related banquets.

Since last month, a social group supporting candidate Mak Soi-kun, who won a seat, has hosted nearly 20,000 people in 20 large parties at the Federal Restaurant.

Yu said many social groups had been mobilised to attract voters, especially through banquets.

"Many groups that had been inactive suddenly came back to life in the build-up to the election," the professor said. "They became a tool for canvassing or even vote-buying."

The government's move to fund banquets to mark two anniversaries helped the campaigning of some candidates, he said.

The government launched a costly scheme to mark both the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and the 10th anniversary of Macau's handover to China. It allowed social groups to apply for subsidies of up to 300 patacas per participant for organising celebrations, with each Macau resident limited to one event.

Many of the events, locally known as a "double celebration", turned out to be banquets with lucky draws.

Macau media reports said more than 500 groups applied for subsidies for 400,000 residents. Based on this figure, the government would have spent 120 million patacas.

On Sunday, several election teams mobilised fleets of taxis and private cars to send voters to 27 polling stations. The catch was that you had to vote for their candidates.

Driving voters to polling stations was permissible, the Electoral Affairs Commission said, but canvassing during the trip was forbidden.

At Fisherman's Wharf, people could eat for one pataca, but they were then asked to support candidate Melinda Chan Mei-yi, who later won a seat.

The Commission Against Corruption on Sunday arrested a man for driving a voter to a polling station and canvassing during the trip.

Macau's Legislative Assembly comprises 29 members, with 12 elected by popular vote, 10 elected through functional constituencies and seven appointed by the chief executive.

The 2005 vote was plagued with scandals, from minor bribes to direct vote-buying, and attacks on a candidate and a journalist.

Police and graft-busters arrested dozens of suspects, leading to four trials over ballot-buying. Wu Lin, a running mate of Fujian community leader Chan Meng-kam, was jailed for four years in 2007.

Political commentator Professor Larry So Man-yum, of Macau Polytechnic Institute, said voters showed higher awareness of electoral democracy and treated their ballots more seriously than in previous elections.

Golpes baixos da campanha eleitoral

Scandals and smears abound as gloves come off for Macau's poll

Fox Yi Hu
South China Morning Post
September 20, 2009

Scandals emerged and smear campaigns intensified in the build-up to Macau's legislative poll today, catching voters by surprise and making it harder to predict the winners in the 12 directly elected seats.

Popular new government policies announced last week, soon after pro-government candidates called for them, are also expected to affect the election.

Political commentator Professor Larry So Man-yum, of Macau Polytechnic Institute, said competition would be fierce, with no team winning more than two seats.

So said a large-scale smear campaign would harm two teams of democrats, limiting their chances of winning four seats.

"There has been a well-organised smear campaign," So said. "Some people are very afraid of democrats winning four seats and are therefore trying to hammer them."

Only 12 of the 29 seats in Macau's legislature are directly elected; seven are appointed by the chief executive and 10 lawmakers represent functional constituencies.

Analysts say the strongest contenders include Antonio Ng Kuok-cheong, a democrat whose team won the highest number of votes in 2005, Fujian community leader Chan Meng-kam, Jose Coutinho, an activist for civil servants, Angela Leong On-kei, fourth wife of casino mogul Stanley Ho Hung-sun, and Kwan Tsui-hang, of the pro-government Federation of Trade Unions.

Democrats, led by Ng and Au Kam-san, are looking to extend their presence in the legislature by splitting into two teams in pursuit of four seats.

Au, who leads the second democratic team, is one of Macau's best-known government watchdogs.

But his team is battling accusations spread on the internet and published in pro-government newspapers.

It was revealed last week that Ng Seng-fong, No4 on Au's candidate list, had been found guilty of fraud on July 15.

A message posted on the internet on Monday revealed Ng Seng-fong's court case and contained a confidential police file with her personal and family details. Ng Seng-fong's place on Au's candidate list was confirmed on July 22, a week after the court sentenced her to three years and three months in jail.

Au said it was strange that the case had been tried without Ng Seng-fong's knowledge and that the court had neither summonsed her to hear the judgment nor put her in jail.

The court found that she had swindled a business partner out of about 300,000 patacas. She said the alleged victim was her former boyfriend, and the suit was filed in 2005.

Ng Seng-fong pulled out of the election on Wednesday while insisting she was innocent.

Another police file, leaked last week, revealed that another running mate of Au had been caught drink-driving in February.

Accusations against Au, including that he was a Falun Gong practitioner, that he had a secret political deal with Fernando Chui Sai-on, Macau's chief executive-elect, and that he kept a concubine, spread on Macau's online forums. Pro-government newspapers appeared keen to pick up on these accusations.

Au described the accusations as the biggest challenge he has faced since he first ran for a legislature seat in 1992.

"I have never before experienced such an overwhelming smear campaign against me," he said.

So said a few popular government policies announced in the past few days would sway the election in favour of candidates from the Federation of Trade Unions and the General Union of Neighbourhood Associations.

A scheme to enhance social welfare for people on low incomes was announced a day after the Federation of Trade Union said it would push for such a scheme.

The government also announced that it would begin accepting applications for public housing in December - a day after the General Union of Neighbourhood Associations vowed to push for public housing.

Another policy revealed last week looks set to benefit Chan, a wealthy businessman who has support from residents of Fujian origin.

It was revealed "over-aged" children of Macau residents would soon be allowed to apply to settle in Macau.

Under the new policy, abode claimants who were under 14 on November 1, 2001, and have at least one parent who is a permanent resident of Macau will be eligible to apply for a one-way permit. Members of the Fujian community, led by Chan, have long been fighting for their children's Macau residency.

The team of businessmen Lai Cho-wai and Kuan Vai-lam has found itself embroiled in a vote-buying scandal.

Anti-graft officers searched the office of a charity group run by the pair on Friday and took away four people from the office for questioning.

Lai and Kuan said they were not involved in vote-buying and had no idea what the search was about.

Polling will run from 9am to 9pm, with results about midnight.

Propostas para democratizar Hong Kong

Pan-democrats call for democratically-elected CE by 2012

South China Morning Post
September 7, 2009

The pan-democrats on Monday called for functional constituencies to be abolished and for a democratically elected legislature by 2012.

The call came after pan-democratic party lawmakers met on Monday afternoon to discuss the territory's future and renew their calls for more progress on the introduction of universal suffrage.

Former Executive and Legislative Councilor Allen Lee Peng-fei said the pan-democrats had also agreed on a lower nomination level for chief executive candidates.

He said the lawmakers wanted a new political model whereby anyone who got 50 nominations from the election committee - or who could get a significant level of public support - should be eligible to stand for the position of chief executive.

“It takes 50 to nominate as a candidate for chief executive — or you get 100,000 electors to nominate,” Lee told local radio.

Lee said the pan-democrats would like this model to be used for the 2012 election. But the former Liberal Party founding member said pan-democrats would “not resist too much” if this idea was not adopted until 2017.

The proposal includes keeping 60 seats in the Legislative Council, with half the lawmakers being elected from single-seat districts, and half under the current proportional list system. This would mean functional constituencies would be a thing of the past.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-Kuen is expected to begin discussions on constitutional reform later this year.

However, the government has said several times it would only discuss how the 2012 elections for chief executive and positions on the Legislative Council can be made more democratic. It has said it will leave proposals for full democratic voting in 2017 and 2020 to the next administration.

In Hong Kong, only 30 of the 60 Legco seats are directly elected by the people (through geographical constituencies), with the other 30 elected by 28 functional constituencies.

A "mulher-aranha" de Macau

'Spider Woman' sparks debate about treatment of domestic helpers

Alex Lo
South China Morning Post
September 5, 2009

She has been dubbed "Spider Woman of Macau" and has provoked rather fierce debates in that city's blogosphere and newspapers. Some posts blasted her callous employers; others say they want to hire her, given her devotion to the job. It's not clear whether the latter group was being compassionately ironic or just mean.

The picture was taken recently and has been widely circulated on the internet. The woman was seen cleaning windows while standing on a ledge on the outer wall of a residential building. Most people assumed she was a foreign domestic helper, though it's possible she was a Macau local, say a housewife who was particularly devoted to the task at hand. Her flat was at least 10 storeys high.

She is believed to have made it back inside safely. But whatever her identity, the picture has sparked a lively discussion on the way Macau people treat their domestic helpers. "Would you send your own daughter out to clean windows like that?" one blogger asked. "If not, why do you send someone's daughter out to clean your windows?"

Good point. Maids in Hong Kong have been spotted on occasion doing similarly hazardous stunts. Come to think of it, we need a debate about how we treat our own helpers.

A pré-campanha (a tal que era proibida...)

Macau candidates find way to beat ban on campaigning

Fox Yi Hu
South China Morning Post
September 4, 2009

The battle for 12 legislative seats is brewing in Macau with candidates stealing a march on campaigning despite a canvassing ban.

A two-week campaigning period for the September 20 election begins tomorrow. Macau's legislative election law forbids candidates campaigning beforehand. But some candidates have been using banners, billboards, periodicals and free dinners to attract potential voters.

Political commentator Professor Larry So Man-yum said almost every one of the 16 groups of candidates had been taking advantage of legal grey areas to campaign.

"Given the grey areas in the election law, almost everyone is stealing a march," said So, who teaches public administration at Macau Polytechnic Institute. "Those commanding a lot of resources have used billboards or periodicals for the purpose, while others have held seminars in the name of academic discussion or organised `street protests'."

The ban on campaigning effectively began in mid-July when the names of 16 teams of candidates were confirmed and published.

A billboard and banners promoting candidates Chan Meng-kam and Ung Choi-kun have been put up on a building on Rua do Almirante Sergio next to the inner harbour.

The billboard, about six metres long and two metres wide, has photos of Chan and Ung, who were legislators from 2005 to this year, along with a slogan "Work heartedly for Macau".

Two banners hung from on the right side of the billboard yesterday, with one saying, "Please vote for Team No7".

The offices of Chan and Ung said the billboard had been there since they became lawmakers in 2005, and promoted them as lawmakers rather than as election candidates. A huge photo of candidate Kuan Vai-lam, a property developer, was displayed earlier this week on South Hill, a residential building under construction on Avenida do Ouvidor Arriaga. But it had been replaced by a vertical banner of about 10 metres long saying "Developer: Kuan Vai-lam" as of yesterday.

Next to it was another vertical banner displaying the name of Lai Cho-wai, a running-mate of Kuan.

The General Union of Neighbourhood Associations was accused of violating the ban on campaigning. Its periodical featuring candidates from the union was published in July and some copies were distributed last month in Macau.

The New Macau Association, led by democrats and candidates Ng Kuok-cheong and Au Kam-san, last month sent a letter to Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah, accusing the union of breaching the ban.

Io Hong-meng, president of the union, said the articles that had been published previously by local media and did not violate the ban.

Government-funded dinner parties to mark both the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China and the 10th anniversary of Macau's handover to China prompted complaints.

Many of the events, known as a "double celebration", are parties where residents, who enjoy free dinners and supermarket coupons from lucky draws, are asked to support some candidates.

The 2005 legislative poll was plagued with scandals from minor bribes to direct vote-buying.

The government move to scrap the voter permits for this month's election is expected to thwart vote buying. Registered voters would be allowed to use their Macau identity cards when casting their ballots, it said last month.