It’s best known as a glitzy gambling haven, but Macau is now drawing the unwanted focus of rights groups after it passed a tough new security law and began blocking visitors from Hong Kong.
Macau’s decision to bar a handful of Hong Kong politicians, academics and a photographer has underscored the cultural and political gaps between the two former colonies, which now both belong to China.
On one side sits Hong Kong, home to a vibrant if unfulfilled tradition of democracy. An hour away by ferry is Macau, one of the top gambling destinations in the world.
Squarely between them is an increasingly bitter dispute that has many in Macau telling Hong Kongers to mind their own business.
“We cannot see why the relationship between the two places, which are meant to be like brothers, could have got so bad,” Hong Kong Democratic Party Chairman Albert Ho (何俊仁) said.
Ho, one of the politicians barred from entering Macau in December as he hoped to take part in a protest against the new security legislation, will lead a new delegation of Hong Kong lawmakers trying to get in on Sunday.
Some here wish they would simply stay away.
As Macau’s colorful and most powerful gambling tycoon Stanley Ho (何鴻燊) put it: “Those people were all shit-stirrers.”
Macau’s new law toughens the punishment for crimes such as treason and subversion. Critics say it will stifle the freedoms guaranteed when the colony was handed back to China in 1999.
“[The bill’s] vague and broad provisions could be used to imprison individuals merely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association,” Amnesty International Asia Pacific deputy director Roseanne Rife said.
But the measure sailed through the legislature and only a handful of protesters bothered to turn up for a candlelight vigil before it was passed.
Antonio Ng (吳國昌), one of just two pro-democracy legislators in Macau, said the apathy was unsurprising.
“Most people know the government does not need to use this law to carry out any abuses — it already has sufficient means,” Ng said.
But the wider issue of rights gained more attention when an academic traveling to a conference in Macau and a photographer who was accredited to cover a court case were refused entry.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Donald Tsang (曾蔭權) said he had raised the issue of the border blocks last week with his counterpart Edmund Ho (何厚鏵), who insisted officials had acted lawfully.
If the lawmakers are barred on Sunday, some fear the dispute could end up hurting Macau’s business.
Jonathan Galaviz, a gaming analyst with consultancy Globalysis, said it was crucial that the row did not escalate.
“It will be important for political issues that develop in Macau to not pollute any marketing or promotional campaigns that it is currently executing to attract more tourists or foreign investment,” he said.
Harald Bruning, editor of the English-language Macau Post Daily, said that when it comes to politics, Macau and Hong Kong have little in common.
“Politically, Hong Kong and Macau are located on two different planets,” Bruning said. “Sunday’s trip is widely seen here as a political show primarily directed at a Hong Kong audience.”
Ng said the security legislation was only being introduced to smooth the passage of similar legislation in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong scrapped plans for a security law in 2003 after huge public protests, and some believe Sunday’s visit by legislators is meant to warn the Hong Kong government not to try again.
Nauru has started selling passports to fund climate action, but is so far struggling to attract new citizens to the low-lying, largely barren island in the Pacific Ocean. Nauru, one of the world’s smallest nations, has a novel plan to fund its fight against climate change by selling so-called “Golden Passports.” Selling for US$105,000 each, Nauru plans to drum up more than US$5 million in the first year of the “climate resilience citizenship” program. Almost six months after the scheme opened in February, Nauru has so far approved just six applications — covering two families and four individuals. Despite the slow start —
MOGAMI-CLASS FRIGATES: The deal is a ‘big step toward elevating national security cooperation with Australia, which is our special strategic partner,’ a Japanese official said Australia is to upgrade its navy with 11 Mogami-class frigates built by Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles said yesterday. Billed as Japan’s biggest defense export deal since World War II, Australia is to pay US$6 billion over the next 10 years to acquire the fleet of stealth frigates. Australia is in the midst of a major military restructure, bolstering its navy with long-range firepower in an effort to deter China. It is striving to expand its fleet of major warships from 11 to 26 over the next decade. “This is clearly the biggest defense-industry agreement that has ever
North Korean troops have started removing propaganda loudspeakers used to blare unsettling noises along the border, South Korea’s military said on Saturday, days after Seoul’s new administration dismantled ones on its side of the frontier. The two countries had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who is seeking to ease tensions with Pyongyang. The South Korean Ministry of National Defense on Monday last week said it had begun removing loudspeakers from its side of the border as “a practical measure aimed at helping ease
DEADLY TASTE TEST: Erin Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband three times, police said in one of the major claims not heard during her initial trial Australia’s recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired yesterday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson’s behavior in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale yesterday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her
RSS