Global Voices Online

Nuno Lima Bastos [pt] writes an article about two pieces of news this week: the arrest of an individual suspected of instigating the Olympic torch theft in Macao and the entry refusal for two pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. “The two men complained to the South China Morning Post and, frankly, the image of Macao starts to get “fired” even before the Olympic flame arrives here.”

The Macau Chief Executive Edmund Ho claimed that the government would suspend the development of gambling industry. Lang qing felt that such claim was just political slogan as most of the Casino projects had been approved and the gambling industry would continue to double or triple its growth in the coming few years [zh].

The Macau government decided to give every citizen 5000 dollars for relieving the inflation problem. Long ching noticed that rather than appreciating such move, people are skeptical of the policy [zh].

Leocardo [pt] comments on this week's Amnesty International's report that ranked China the first in the world in the number of executions in 2007 (470), followed by Iran (317), Saudi Arabia (143), Pakistan (135) and the US (42). He analyzes the social issues behind death penalty in China and is surprised by the “Amnesty International's hipocrisy”. “I would make it clear, first of all, that I am against capital punishment. But we must try to understand the social and cultural causes behind a punishment that seems to be, for most of us free and democratic souls, an act of desperation.”

Leocardo [pt] about the future of Macao and its present day politicians: “Can we believe in these “part-time” politicians who use an electoral system which is not even democratic to be elected, and then go to the Assembly to get on with their pet lives and business? Whose children study (and in many cases live) abroad? Do they believe in the future of Macao or do they just see it as a business opportunity, a money making achine?”

Buchong visited the planned construction site of an giant oil refinery campus at Nansha, a river mouth peninsular at Zhujiang delta [zh]. The villagers are looking forwarded for the construction, however, the project would result in serious air and water pollution affecting nearby districts, in particular residents in Macau, Hong Kong and Guangzhou province.

Leocardo [pt] comments on the news that 44 people have died because of the ferocious cold weather in Macau. “It is absolutely inconceivable that a developed country or territory allow their citizens to die because of cold weather. More important than the GDP or the human development index, these are small things that count a lot.”

Macaopen compares the lunar new year PR news of Hong Kong and Macau Chief Executives. In the two PR news, HKCE Donald Tsang negotiated price in the night market and spent 700, while Macau counterpart Edmund Ho spent 52,000 (zh).