More than 300,000 voters go to the polls in Macau on Sunday. Photo: K. Y. Cheng</s>HONG KONG: Macau's mostly pro-democracy opposition made slight gains in legislative elections, as critics saw signs of public dissatisfaction with the pro-Beijing government after a deadly typhoon battered the Asian gambling hub a month ago.

Results of Sunday's vote announced on Monday showed the opposition camp won five seats in the 33-seat legislative assembly, one more than at the last election five years ago, according to local media reports.

Macau's political landscape has long been dominated by pro-establishment, pro-Beijing and casino industry interests, and critics viewed any improvement by the opposition as an achievement.

Only 14 of the legislative seats were directly elected, a far lower proportion than in neighbouring Hong Kong, also a China-ruled former colony, that has pushed much harder and wrested greater democratic freedoms than Macau, which returned from Portuguese to Chinese rule in 1999.

Twelve other seats are indirectly elected in smaller constituencies, while another seven are appointed by Macau's Beijing-backed leader, Fernando Chui, making chances of opposition ever gaining a majority all but impossible.

Among the winners was 26-year-old pro-democracy activist and outspoken government critic, Sulu Sou, who becomes the youngest ever Macau lawmaker.

Sou was one of the young leaders that helped spearhead one of Macau's largest anti-government protests three years ago, when around 20,000 people rallied against a bill offering a generous compensation package to outgoing officials.

"In the past four years, people in Macau went through different battles, large and small," Sou wrote on his Facebook page after his victory.

"Today, people in Macau are using their votes to express their determination for change."

Sou couldn't be immediately reached by Reuters for comment.

Unlike neighbouring Hong Kong, large-scale protests are rare and grassroot dissent is relatively muted in Macau, a former Portuguese colony which returned to Chinese rule in 1999 under a "one country, two systems" arrangement.

The election took place less than a month after Typhoon Hato wrought havoc in Macau, killing ten people.

The government's failure to warn people of the devastating storm, a lack of preparedness, along with widespread and protracted cuts to power and water supplies drew public anger and exposed Macau's inadequate infrastructure.

While the opposition's gain was marginal, critics said the high 57 percent turnout rate and Sou's win should be a wake-up call for the government.

"It's an ideal result ... The people came out in greater numbers to support the opposition," Au Kam-sang, a veteran pro-democracy lawmaker who was re-elected, told Reuters.

"It reflects the incompetence of the Macau government and the aftermath of typhoon Hato," Au added.</s>HONG KONG (AP) — Macau voters have elected a young pro-democracy activist to the Chinese casino capital’s legislature, as opposition lawmakers expanded their presence at the expense of candidates linked to the gambling industry.

The results released early Monday are a surprising sign of faith in young people with progressive ideas among Macau’s notoriously apathetic electorate.

Official results showed that 26-year-old Sulu Sou won a seat in Sunday’s election for the city’s semi-democratic legislature, making him the city’s youngest-ever lawmaker, according to local news reports.

Sou’s party, the New Macau Association, favors full democracy for the 33-seat legislature, where only 14 seats are directly elected and the rest are filled by pro-establishment labor unions and special interest groups or appointed by the city’s Beijing-backed top leader. The party also aims to reinvigorate interest in politics among the former Portuguese colony’s younger generation.

Sou, who could not be reached for comment, joined three incumbent pro-democracy candidates who won re-election. Another surprise winner was newcomer Agnes Lam, a university professor seen as a centrist. There were few other changes to the rest of the directly elected seats, which remain dominated by pro-Beijing representatives.

Sou has done well in “projecting an image of freshness and youthfulness in Macau’s political landscape,” said Sonny Lo, a politics professor at HKU Space. Over the past five years, Sou “has been working very hard to raise all sorts of issues which were traditionally regarded as sensitive in Macau,” such as political reform. In 2014, he also helped lead the city’s biggest protest since its 1999 handover to China, which saw 20,000 people take to the streets to rally against a government plan to give civil servants lavish retirement benefits.

The vote also highlighted some lingering public discontent over the government’s hapless response to a powerful typhoon that battered Macau weeks earlier, flooding its old town, killing 10 and leaving hundreds more injured.

Macau’s economy has boomed over the past decade as supercharged growth in the casino industry transformed the enclave from a seedy and corrupt backwater into a glitzy gambling powerhouse.

But Lo, who calculated that gambling industry-related candidates lost two seats in direct voting, said the results indicate “many younger voters believe that the legislative assembly should not be dominated by the casino-related forces.”

Results showed 57.2 percent of registered voters cast ballots in Macau, a semiautonomous Chinese city with a population of 636,000 that is an hour by ferry from Hong Kong.</s>Test chips with security measures by Gaming Partners International (GPI), a provider of casino currency and equipment, are displayed on a gaming table during the Global Gaming Expo Asia in Macau in this May 22, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Bobby Yip/Files

MACAU (Reuters) - By night, Ieong Man Teng was dealing baccarat to gamblers at the Wynn Macau casino. By day, he was mobilizing thousands of fellow dealers to protest on the street for better working conditions and higher pay.

That made him one of the people on Beijing’s watch list earlier this year in Macau, the world’s biggest gambling hub.

Ieong, 29, said associates of prominent businessmen in Macau and a Macau politician who sits on the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) warned him in face-to-face meetings, including one at a local cafe, to tone down his activities. He did not name the politician.

“They said they were passing on a message from people up there (Beijing). I consider these to be threats,” Ieong said.

A spokesman for the CPPCC, a largely ceremonial but high profile advisory body to China’s parliament, told Reuters he did “not know anything about this”. He did not elaborate.

Ieong’s experience is part of a broader squeeze in Macau, where Beijing is tightening its grip after a series of grassroots protest actions in the former Portuguese colony. Unnerved by pro-democracy protests roiling neighboring Hong Kong, China has moved firmly in Macau to stifle any parallel challenge to the central government’s authority.

President Xi Jinping visits Macau on Dec. 19-20 to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its handover to the mainland with the territory at a crossroads.

Macau’s gambling take, which makes up 80 percent of its revenues, has suffered the biggest decline since the industry was liberalized in 2001. This is partly because Xi’s sweeping crackdown on corruption has scared off high-rollers, including corrupt officials.

Xi is also helping inaugurate a second five-year term for Macau Chief Executive Fernando Chui, who was re-elected by a pro-Beijing panel in August amid unprecedented political protests.

Au Kam San, a pro-democracy Macau lawmaker, said Beijing still viewed Macau as more controllable than Hong Kong. But the protests from July to October by Ieong’s gambling union, in a city where casinos raked in $45 billion last year, troubled Beijing.

“The gambling union is much more important and it has a higher risk for Beijing because it’s mobilizing potential is much stronger,” Au said. “It’s seen as a threat to Beijing.”

The fact that gaming is so closely connected with the mainland means that Beijing cannot just look at economic growth and tax revenue “when looking at Macau’s overall well-being,” Li Fei, deputy secretary general of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee said in a speech in Macau on Dec. 3. “It must think from the perspective of China’s economic and social stability and development.”

Beijing’s Liaison Office in Macau and the Macau government did not respond to Reuters’ questions sent by fax and email.

Like Hong Kong, Macau is ruled under the one country, two systems model that affords its residents wide-ranging personal freedoms that don’t exist on the mainland. Critics say these have been eroding under pressure from China.

Last month, the University of Saint Joseph issued a document, titled “USJ policy on political activities,” that places limits on political discussion at the Catholic institution. When asked to provide a copy of the guidelines, the university’s Pro-Rector for Academic Affairs and Development Vincent Yang told Reuters they were for internal use only and declined to give more details.

The guidelines were issued after a professor at the University, Eric Sautede, was dismissed in June after writing a column in a local newspaper extolling a candlelight vigil in Macau commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square student-led protests.

Peter Stilwell, the rector of Saint Joseph‘s, said Sautede was sacked for violating the primary principle of the Church, “which is of non-intervention in local political debate”.

Bill Chou Kwok-Ping, a professor at the University of Macau and prominent civil rights activist, was let go in August for similar reasons. The University said it chose not to renew Chou’s contract because he violated professional conduct regulations by not remaining politically neutral.

Macau’s Tertiary Education Services Office is discussing guidelines that would assess universities and tertiary institutions for various issues, including funding, on the basis of whether they adhered to the principle of “love China, love Macau”, according to a person who attended the meeting.

The tertiary office did not respond to Reuters’ questions sent by email.

Situated at the mouth of China’s Pearl River delta, Macau has traditionally been sympathetic to Beijing, with around half of its 600,000 population having emigrated from the mainland over the past three decades. As a result, there has been little grassroots protest in the city since China resumed control in 1999.

That changed in May. A record 20,000 people took to the streets to protest poor public services and a bill that provided lavish perks for senior civil servants.

Then, in August, Macau activists organized an unofficial referendum asking residents whether they trusted their chief executive - as the territory’s head of government is called - and if full universal suffrage should be introduced. At the same time in Hong Kong, tensions were rising over a plan by activists, also demanding full democracy, to paralyze the central business district.

The results of the Macau referendum showed that 89 percent of the nearly 9,000 people who took part didn’t trust Chui. The sole candidate for chief executive in the August election, he was chosen by a panel of 400 largely pro-China loyalists. Data released on the poll’s online site also showed that 95 percent of the participants said they were in favor of allowing all registered voters to cast ballots for a chief executive.

Macau authorities moved quickly to disrupt the referendum, shutting polling booths. They also arrested five people for breaching privacy laws because the ballot asked for telephone and ID card numbers to prevent fraudulent voting.

Jason Chao, one of those detained, told Reuters he fled Macau for a few days at the end of the referendum to dispose of all the data, defying orders from police to hand over the information. Chao, a computer software developer and leading member of the New Macau Association, said he refused to let police officers search his apartment.

“There’s a trend for them to use the criminal justice system as justification for getting information from you, for searching your house,” Chao said in an interview in Macau, referring to the local authorities and the Chinese government. “They’re doing it to essentially deter us from escalating the movement.”

Ahead of Xi’s visit, Chao has met with men he described as plain clothes policemen and had informal meetings with representatives from Beijing, who described themselves as researchers but were not affiliated with any institution, he said.

Macau police declined to comment on questions sent by email.

Chao said he was told his group’s annual pro-democracy protest held on the anniversary of Macau’s handover could go ahead as long as it didn’t target President Xi.

“They invited me to lunch and didn’t put it in a straight-forward manner,” he said. “They diplomatically said that if you decide to do your annual demonstration as normal, it will be fine as long as you don’t do other things targeting Xi Jinping.”</s>HONG KONG (AP) - Macau voters have elected a young pro-democracy activist to the Chinese casino capital's legislature, as opposition lawmakers expanded their presence at the expense of candidates linked to the gambling industry.

The results released early Monday are a surprising sign of faith in young people with progressive ideas among Macau's notoriously apathetic electorate.

Official results showed that 26-year-old Sulu Sou won a seat in voting Sunday for the city's semi-democratic legislature.

Sou's party, the New Macau Association, favors full democracy for the 33-seat legislature, where some seats are filled by trade and special interest groups or appointed by the city's top leader.

Results showed 57.2 percent of registered voters turned out to vote in Macau, a special Chinese region near Hong Kong.</s>HONG KONG — Macau voters have elected a young pro-democracy activist to the Chinese casino capital's legislature, as opposition lawmakers expanded their presence at the expense of candidates linked to the gambling industry.

The results released early Monday are a surprising sign of faith in young people with progressive ideas among Macau's notoriously apathetic electorate.

Sou's party, the New Macau Association, full democracy for the 33-seat legislature, where only 14 seats are directly elected while the rest are filled by trade and special interest groups or appointed by the city's top leader. The party also aims to reinvigorate interest in politics among the former Portuguese colony's younger generation.

He was one of five victorious candidates seen as representing the opposition camp, including three incumbents plus another newcomer, Agnes Lam, a university professor. Sou could not be reached for comment.

Sou has done well in "projecting an image of freshness and youthfulness in Macau's political landscape," said Sonny Lo, a politics professor at HKU Space. Over the past five years, Sou "has been working very hard to raise all sorts of issues which were traditionally regarded as sensitive in Macau," such as political reform. In 2014, he also helped lead the city's biggest protest since its 1999 handover to China, which saw 20,000 people take to the streets to rally against a government plan to give civil servants lavish retirement benefits.

Macau's economy has boomed over the past decade as supercharged growth in the casino industry transformed the enclave from a seedy and neglected backwater into a glitzy gambling powerhouse.

But Lo, who calculated that gambling industry-related candidates lost two seats in direct voting, said the results indicate "many younger voters believe that the legislative assembly should not be dominated by the casino-related forces."</s>Chinese President Xi Jinping shakes hands with a child as he receives a bouquet upon arriving in Macau to celebrate the 15th anniversary of its handover to the mainland December 19, 2014. REUTERS/Government Information Bureau of the MSAR/Handout via Reuters

MACAU (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday urged the world’s biggest gambling hub, Macau, to accelerate diversification away from its bread-and-butter casino industry, which has lost about $60 billion in market value over the last six months.

Xi, in Macau to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the former Portuguese colony’s handover to Chinese rule, said although it had developed rapidly, certain deep-seated problems which have existed for a long time had come to light.

“It is important for Macau to adopt a global, nationwide, future-oriented and long-term perspective, formulate appropriate plans and blueprints for its development and promote sound economic and social development,” Xi said, in comments carried on Chinese state television.

“Focus on building a global tourism and leisure center ... promote the Macanese economy’s appropriate diversification and sustainable development. This is of great importance for the interests of the people of Macau.”

Xi, who made no direct mention of Macau’s casinos, swore in Macau leader Ferenando Chui for his second, five-year term at the ceremony, which was also attended by Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying.

Chui said the government would continue to give priority to stable development and the orderly adjustment of the economic structure.

Xi’s visit comes as Macau has been battered by his pervasive anti-corruption campaign, with revenues for 2014 expected to drop for the first time since casinos were liberalized over a decade ago.

High-roller gamblers have increasingly steered clear of Macau, on the mouth of the Pearl River delta, unnerved by the increased scrutiny of the gaming industry as Xi’s anti-graft drive shows no signs of let-up.

Record flows of mainland mom-and-pop players, known as “mass market” customers, are also spending less on the gambling tables. The outlook looks gloomy, with Xi’s campaign unrelenting and weak growth curbing demand to gamble in China’s only legal casino hub, despite two new resorts set to open on the city’s Cotai strip.

Macau, a special administrative region like neighboring Hong Kong, is opening eight new casinos over the next three years, adding infrastructure including a 30 km bridge connecting Macau, Hong Kong and the mainland and high-speed rail.

Yet a series of negative factors including negative credit growth, regulatory restrictions on visas and a smoking ban look set to impact revenue growth for at least the first half of 2015.

Macau’s casinos and luxury shops appeared quiet as Xi visited the territory.

“Of course it’s quiet today. Who would dare to shop when the president is here?” said a sales lady at an outlet of Chow Tai Fook, the world’s largest jewelry maker by market value.

Macau has been held up as a good example of the “one country two systems” model, under which both it and Hong Kong came under Chinese rule, after Hong Kong was roiled recently by pro-democracy protests for nearly three months.

Xi praised the model saying it was also in the interests of international investors.

“No matter what difficulties or challenges we may encounter, they could never shake our confidence and resolve to uphold the principle and advance the practice of ‘one country, two systems’.”</s>BEIJING (Reuters) - Macau leader Fernando Chui told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday that he would try to diversify Macau’s casino-dependent economy, which has been hit by the most aggressive anti-graft campaign in China in decades.

Xi, in Macau to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the handover of the former Portuguese colony to Chinese rule, said the world’s largest gambling center “still faces difficulties and challenges that must be properly managed”. He did not elaborate.

Xi’s pervasive anti-graft campaign contributed to a disastrous year for major casino companies, which have lost a combined $58 billion in market value over the past six months as VIPs stayed away.

Once a paradise for Chinese government officials and rich businessmen to flaunt their wealth and indulge themselves with private jets and sumptuous hotel suites, Macau is now seen by many to be a pathway for extracting money from China.

“We will continue to focus on economic development and improving people’s livelihood and actively promote the appropriate diversification of the economy,” Chui told Xi, according to the Xinhua state news agency.

Chui, who will be sworn in for his second, five-year term on Saturday, said he hoped to “achieve the sustainable development of Macau”.

Xi said the important issue for Macau for some time to come was “how it can make greater progress on the basis of its achievements in the last 15 years and maintain long-term prosperity and stability”, according to Xinhua.

Xi’s visit comes as gambling revenues for Macau in 2014 are expected to drop for the first time since casinos were liberalized over a decade ago.

Wealthy high-roller gamblers have increasingly steered clear of Macau, on the mouth of China’s Pearl River delta, unnerved by increased scrutiny over the gaming industry as Xi’s anti-graft drive shows no signs of let-up.

Macau has been held up as a good example of the “one country two systems model” under which both it and Hong Kong came under Chinese rule after Hong Kong was roiled recently by pro-democracy protests for nearly three months.

Separately, Xi said he had “full confidence” in Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying, who is also in Macau for the inauguration ceremony.

“The central government will, as always, support you and the SAR government in your work,” Xi told Leung, according to Xinhua. Hong Kong is termed a Special Administrative Region of China.</s>MACAU, Dec 20 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday urged the world’s biggest gambling hub, Macau, to accelerate diversification away from its bread-and-butter casino industry, which has lost about $60 billion in market value over the last six months.

Xi, in Macau to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the former Portuguese colony’s handover to Chinese rule, said although it had developed rapidly, certain deep-seated problems which have existed for a long time had come to light.

“It is important for Macau to adopt a global, nationwide, future-oriented and long-term perspective, formulate appropriate plans and blueprints for its development and promote sound economic and social development,” Xi said, in comments carried on Chinese state television.

“Focus on building a global tourism and leisure centre ... promote the Macanese economy’s appropriate diversification and sustainable development. This is of great importance for the interests of the people of Macau.”

Xi, who made no direct mention of Macau’s casinos, swore in Macau leader Ferenando Chui for his second, five-year term at the ceremony, which was also attended by Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying.

Chui said the government would continue to give priority to stable development and the orderly adjustment of the economic structure.

Xi’s visit comes as Macau has been battered by his pervasive anti-corruption campaign, with revenues for 2014 expected to drop for the first time since casinos were liberalised over a decade ago.

High-roller gamblers have increasingly steered clear of Macau, on the mouth of the Pearl River delta, unnerved by the increased scrutiny of the gaming industry as Xi’s anti-graft drive shows no signs of let-up.

Record flows of mainland mom and pop players, known as “mass market” customers, are also spending less on the gambling tables. The outlook looks gloomy, with Xi’s campaign unrelenting and weak growth curbing demand to gamble in China’s only legal casino hub, despite two new resorts set to open on the city’s Cotai strip.

Macau, a special administrative region like neighbouring Hong Kong, is opening eight new casinos over the next three years, adding infrastructure including a 30 km bridge connecting Macau, Hong Kong and the mainland and high-speed rail.

Yet a series of negative factors including negative credit growth, regulatory restrictions on visas and a smoking ban look set to impact revenue growth for at least the first half of 2015.

Macau has been held up as a good example of the “one country two systems” model, under which both it and Hong Kong came under Chinese rule, after Hong Kong was roiled recently by pro-democracy protests for nearly three months.

Xi praised the model saying it was also in the interests of international investors.

“No matter what difficulties or challenges we may encounter, they could never shake our confidence and resolve to uphold the principle and advance the practice of ‘one country, two systems’.” (Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Writing by Farah Master; Editing by Robert Birsel)</s>HONG KONG (Reuters) - As Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives in Macau this weekend for his first official visit in five years, the message from Beijing is clear: the world’s biggest gambling center cannot remain a one-industry town.

Xi’s pervasive anti-graft campaign contributed to a disastrous year for major casino companies, which have lost a combined $58 billion in market value over the past six months as VIPs stayed away.

The former Portuguese colony became a paradise for Chinese government officials and rich businessmen to flaunt their wealth and indulge themselves with private jets and sumptuous hotel suites. Gambling revenue hit $45 billion last year, seven times Las Vegas’s take.

But it also became a pathway for extracting money from China - something the government is targeting aggressively.

China extended a crackdown on illicit money transfers into Macau, giving its Economic Crimes Investigation Bureau access to transactions made through the state-backed UnionPay credit card, the South China Morning Post reported on Wednesday.

The move, timed just ahead of Xi’s high-profile visit, is the latest in a string of actions aimed at curbing illicit funds leaving the country, a priority for Xi as he goes after corrupt officials who have fled overseas.

UnionPay has been a conduit for growing numbers of Chinese to illegally send billions of dollars abroad, a Reuters special report showed in March.

The corruption link helps explain Beijing’s interest in seeing Macau expand beyond casinos into more family-friendly entertainment.

Li Gang, China’s representative in Macau, warned on Sunday that “the dominance of one industry can lead the city to prosperity, but it also can lead to its demise”.

Gambling merited barely a mention in an editorial this week in the Communist Party’s official newspaper, the People’s Daily, praising Macau as a platform for international trade and a world heritage site.

Junket operators who lend money to wealthy mainland Chinese gamblers said they would keep a low profile during Xi’s visit, which marks the 15th anniversary of Macau’s handover from Portugal. He is expected to voice his support for Macau diversifying beyond gambling.

“Xi’s visit definitely means more control on the gaming path, especially for VIPs,” said one junket operator who declined to be named, referring to the high-rollers who accounted for two-thirds of Macau’s revenue last year but now represent just 56 percent.

Hong Kong-listed casino stocks have plunged 32-51 percent since the start of the year, widely underperforming the benchmark Hang Seng Index, which has dropped 2 percent in the same period.

Macau and China signed a service trade agreement between the enclave and the southern province of Guangdong on Thursday, China’s commerce ministry said on its website.

The agreement is aimed at liberalizing trade in services and “will be beneficial to the diversified development of Macau’s economy”, the ministry said.

China is pushing for new development focusing on culture, sports and retail, instead of prioritizing gambling.

If casino companies do not comply, it may affect their licenses. Discussions on license renewals start next year, and the earliest concessions expire in 2020. The government has said it is looking at how effectively operators provide non-gaming amenities in their new resorts.

Casino moguls including U.S. billionaires Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn are also under pressure to add non-gaming elements to secure coveted gambling tables.

Adelson, who has led diversification efforts in Macau with an exhibition arena and hotels, is building a mock Eiffel tower, while Wynn is building a palatial $4 billion resort with a big lake and air-conditioned gondolas.

Some junket operators said they welcomed Xi adding his voice to the calls for diversification because gambling accounts for the bulk of Macau’s tax base and left the city vulnerable to sharp downturns.

“I think Xi’s trip is a good thing for Macau, for the central government to show support and ensure stability,” said a junket operator. “There is a lot of negative influence right now.”
Voters in Macau vote for a new Legislative Assembly.