HONG KONG Fri Aug 29, 2014 1:27am EDT
Macau Chief Executive Fernando Chui speaks at a news conference after winning Macau’s chief executive election in Macau July 26, 2009.
CREDIT: REUTERS/TYRONE SIU
(Reuters) – Macau chief executive Fernando Chui is widely expected to be “re-elected” on Sunday after the pro-China government stifled an unofficial referendum on democracy, taking a much harder line on the gambling hub than leaders have in neighboring Hong Kong.
The election in the tiny but wealthy former Portuguese-run enclave, by a select panel of 400 largely pro-China loyalists with Chui the only candidate, echoes the struggle in Hong Kong, where activists have been pushing for universal suffrage since China reclaimed the British colony in 1997.
Both territories are now “special administrative regions” of China, enjoying wide-ranging freedoms unavailable on the mainland, but presenting Communist Party leaders in Beijing with a headache as calls for democracy grow. China is terrified those calls will spread to mainland cities, threatening the party’s grip on power.
Eric Sautede, a former professor of politics at Macau’s University of Saint Joseph who was sacked for expressing his political views, said Beijing could crack down more easily in Macau than in Hong Kong because of the “limited grassroots push”.
“None of the people in charge in Macau ever praised democratic values,” he said. “They only praise consultation, scientific governance and harmony.”
The election in Macau coincides with a meeting of China’s parliament which is expected to limit 2017 elections for Hong Kong’s leader to a handful of candidates, a move likely to escalate plans by pro-democracy activists to blockade the city’s Central business district.
But so far, it is the Macau activists who have fared the worst, with five detained for staging the unofficial referendum on democracy, nearly two months after activists angered Beijing by conducting a similar poll in Hong Kong.
Macau, which returned to China in 1999, does not have a history of activism, unlike Hong Kong, where the Legislative Council is polarized between pro-Beijing conservatives and those calling for a free vote.
Larry So, a Macau-based commentator, said the crackdown on the civil referendum was an overreaction.
“The term civil referendum is a very sensitive touchy political term. If there wasn’t an issue in Hong Kong, they (authorities) wouldn’t react in this way,” he said.
“The central government (Beijing) has been coming down very hard. They would prefer that the term civil referendum did not exist. This is why they have behaved in such a strong way.”
