CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 Research Background
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1.2RESEARCHBACKGROUND
In an attempt to find out the answers to these questions, the first thing I needed to do in my thesis was to explore Macau society, its political system and economic situation.
1.2.1 MACAU’S SOCIETY, POLITICAL SYSTEM AND ECONOMY Macau is a small city with a high-density population and currently there are 648,500 people living and working in the city of 30.5 square metres. Excluding non-local residents and non-non-local students working and studying in the city, there were 537,018 local residents in August 2016, up by 10 percent from 2011. Non-resident workers and non-local students living in Macau totalled 104,464 and 9,352 respectively, up by 67.7 percent and 89.2 percent respectively, together accounting for 17.5 percent of the total population. The official data also show that population of Chinese ethnicity totalled 575,585, accounting for 88.4 percent of the total population, down by 3.8 percentage points from 2011. Meanwhile, those of Portuguese ethnicity totalled 9,024, with its proportion in the total population rising by 0.5 percentage points from five years ago to 1.4 percent. Due to an increasing number of people coming to work, study or reside in Macau, the proportion of the population of non-Chinese ethnicity went up from 7.7 percent in 2011 to 11.6 percent in 2016, and the majority were Filipinos and Vietnamese, comprising 4.6 percent and 2.4 percent of the total population. The population of Chinese ethnicity totalled 577,107, taking up 88.7 percent of the total population, down by 3.7 percentage points from 2011. Those of Portuguese ethnicity totalled 11,715, with its proportion in the total population increasing by 0.3 percentage points to 1.8 percent. When reviewing the history of the development of Macau's population this city has a strong connection with mainland China. Regarding the composition of Macau population, Chinese ethnicity is the dominant group.
China resumed its rule over the Portuguese colony of Macau on December 20, 1999, after Portuguese sailors first claimed this "fishing village" as their home territory more than four centuries ago. Basically, the history of Macau is one of immigration and immigrants. Academics have different views on when people started to settle in Macau.
Chang (2000) said officials and soldiers from Fujian and Zhejiang fled to Macau and from then people formally settled in Macau from the end of the Song Dynasty. However,
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scholar Tan (1996) said that there was no historical evidence supporting the conclusion that there had been people formally settling down since a group of officials and soldiers of the Southern Song Dynasty moved in (Shi, 1996). Tan (1996) also said based on the current popular crucial viewpoints of Chinese and non-Chinese academic groups that Macau had been a port between 1535 and 1557 in the Ming Dynasty. Historian Huang (1987) said in his research Macau was leased to Portugal in 1564 (Huang, 1987). In their book: Analysis on Macao’s New Immigrants from Mainland China, the authors Wong and Cheng said that people living on the island were the immigrants from the regions nearby or the result of internal migration (Wong & Cheng, 2005). Macau had experienced rise and falls in population growth since it became a port, when in 1640 its population reached 40,000, Macau’s population reach a peak for the first time.
Meanwhile, the introduction of production technology brought with the Portuguese was the instigator of Macau reaching its golden age. However, in 1743 the Qing Dynasty government further restricting Portuguese activities in Macau which resulted in the first-ever huge reduction in its population and the number decreased to 5,500 while about 3,500 were Portuguese traders. Macau had also been a transition hub for unskilled labourers from the mainland China trafficked to European and American countries during the Ming Dynasty.
The city even recorded its population as being more than a hundred thousand, amounting 193,175, in 1924 as many refugees from mainland China fled to Macau due to an uprising in Guangzhou (Chang, 2000). During the Second World War as Portugal declared its "neutral" status thus Macau became a shelter for refugees from mainland China and thus its population increased from 140,000 in 1938 to 400,000 in 1940, reaching another historical peak (Chang, 2000). Zhang (2003) said in his research that the number of refugees increased twice from 120,000 to 245,200 within three years from 1936.
During the 1960s and 1970s during the mainland’s “Cultural Revolution" many mainlanders immigrated to Macau legally or illegally. Mainlanders continued to immigrate to Macau after China opened its doors (Chan, 1999). Simultaneously, a great number of overseas Chinese from Southeast Asian countries were forced to leave their homes vis-à-vis the unstable political situation while some of them chose to settle in Macau. Wong and Cheng (2005) said in their book that there were 55,000 overseas Chinese entering Macau in the first half of 1962. From 1960 to 1993, Macau’s population recorded an increase of 226,000 while 122,800 of them were immigrants.
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After the mainland China government started its open-door policy in 1979 Macau recorded it’s first-ever high number of so-call “new immigrants” from mainland China.
Quoting Penny Chan’s definition of “new immigrants” which referred to those mainlanders who entered Macau illegally or legally after 14 January 1979, following the former Chinese communist party leader Deng Xiaoping setting the train in motion for the transformation of China's economy when he announced a new "open door"
policy in December 1978.
However, Wong and Cheng defined “new immigrant” as those “who migrated from China legally and had settled down in Macau less than 7 years” (Wong & Cheng, 2005, p.14). In their research about illegal immigration Shyi and Weng (2003) said between 1979 and 1981Macau’s population increased a lot and many of them were illegal immigrants from Guangdong and other provinces of mainland China and there was the official record of their numbers. The arrivals of illegal immigrants from mainland China increased Macau population but failed to be shown in 1982's Population Census in which a population of only 241,729 was recorded since those people were hidden. Nevertheless, Macau government corrected the figure and replaced it with 295,300 (Wong & Cheng, 2005).
Much research stated that Macau is not only a city of immigrants but also an associational society. According to the latest official figures, there were 7,533 associations (shetuan, or non-governmental organisations, non-profitable organisations) registered in 2016 while in 1999 there were 1,730. Based on the total of the local population recorded in 2016, the ratio between the local population and the number of associations is about 140 associations per ten thousand people or an association for every 71 people. “Associations, comprising groups of like-minded citizens sanctioned, recognised and funded by the government, have long occupied a unique position within Macao’s polity” (Lam & Scott, 2011). Lou (2013) said the ratio between the local population and associations which is calculated based on 2012's figures every 103 people have an association and such a ratio could compete with western countries which have a well-developed civil society. The scholar also said the roles of Macau associations was diversified and they have social and political functions and some of them have "quasi-government" and "quasi-party" roles.
The Macao Chamber of Commerce, the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (Gung Luen), the General Union of Neighbourhood Associations (Kai Fong) and the Women’s General Association of Macau (Fu Luen), are regarded as the four most influential,
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conservative and pro-Beijing government associations in the local community, have been in existence for decades and those associations were established to “serve as bastions of political and social stability and act as a bridge between the government and citizens and they have specific characteristics related to the role” (Lam & Scott, 2011, P.75). Such associations have high representation in a variety interests in the city and they have continued to “be embedded and important in the post-1999 political order although not to the same extent as they had been under the colonial system. Historically, they mediated between Portuguese political elites and the Chinese community and were an important voice in the Legislative Assembly with many of their leaders elected for the functional seats where they controlled the vote” (Lam & Scott, 2011, P.75).
In delineating local associations’ history in political participation local lawmaker Ng Kuok Cheong said that from the mid-20th century although the reality that Macau-Portuguese polity was too far away for the local Chinese community or associations to reach but they had their own source for political participation, which was the result of the agnosticism between the Chinese communist party and Kuomintang. Thus, the local Chinese community which supported the Beijing government had been active in associational activities and being against local associations supported by the Kuomintang government in Taipei. In late 20th century, the pro-Beijing camp had started openly participating in local politics thus many pro-Beijing or leftist associations began registering (Ng, 2013).
The four associations have representatives in the city’s important electoral committees and advisory councils such as the Chief Executive Election Committee.
They also have representatives in Legislative Assembly, taking both directly and indirectly-elected seats. Those associations receive huge annual subsidies for welfare services and their operations. In Macau only eligible associations have the right to vote for the representatives in the Election Committee and indirectly-elected lawmakers.
According to the latest official figure, 865 of those associations have right to vote for indirectly-elected lawmakers and take part in the election of the chief executive.In terms of the explanation of Keane's definition of civil society, non-governmental institutions play an important role. However, in his article, Lou also mentioned that Macau associations were facing many problems and challenges including low representation because of the reduction in members (Lou, 2013).
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Although China resumed rule over Macau the city still keeps it social and political systems in accordance with the principle of "One Country, Two Systems". Macau retains its capitalist system, legislative assembly and supreme court while the chief executive is top official of the city. Under "One Country, Two Systems" Macau administrative hierarchical structure is composed of chief executive, secretariats, bureaus, departments and divisions. Lou (2013) stated Macau had changed its status of being a colony to “land under the governance of Portugal” since the promulgation of Macau Organisation Statute, in 1975.
Although Macau has a legislative assembly, not all lawmakers are elected directly.
According to the official websites of the committee for the Legislative Assembly election, the city's top legislative body increased by 10 members from 1999, the 1st Legislative Assembly after the handover in which there were 23 members. The 33 legislators comprise 14 directly-elected, 12 indirectly-elected and seven appointed by the chief executive after the amendments to the current election regulation in 2012.
The website of the committee for the chief executive election states that currently there are only 400 permanent residents who have the right to vote for the city's top official and those were elected from eligible associations from various sectors including the labour, business and professional, as well as some lawmakers and local representatives of the National People’s Congress (NPC). The first chief executive of the Macau Special, Administrative Region was elected by just 300 members of the Chief Executive Election Committee. According to the latest amendments, a total of 400 Macau residents have the right to vote for the chief executive now. In recent years, Macau people have continuously been appealing for universal suffrage in the chief executive and legislative elections.
Macau's economy has been experiencing ever rapid development since after it liberalised the gambling sector by issuing more licences in 2002 by increasing five more new licenses. The official data shows that the city’s gaming sector has about 80 percent of the city’s gaming revenue. in December 2017 the city’s gross gaming revenue recorded 22,699 million patacas (estimated TWD 83,711.64 million), an increase of 17.9 percent year-on-year. The city’s median wage is 15,000 patacas (estimated TWD 55,308).
According to the latest official figures, the city's GNI per capita recorded in 2015 was 520,004 patacas (US$64,725.41, estimated TWD 1,979,467.5) while it was just 282,295 patacas (US$35,137.54, estimated TWD 1,154,619,56) in 2008. According to
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the figure released by World Bank Macau's GNI per capita recorded at US$ 68,030 (estimated TWD 2,015,250.3) in 2017, ranking 10th among 216 countries or regions.
Meanwhile, the price of properties in the private market has been continuously increasing and more and more local residents have difficulty purchasing a flat in the city.
1.2.2 MASS MEDIA AND ONLINE MEDIA IN MACAU
According to the Government Information Bureau (GCS), there are a total of 66 periodical publications registered in the bureau10. Over the past decade, not only the print media but also the online media in this city have developed quickly at unexpected rate. There is a great deal of existing literature proposing that the development of the Internet has a role in the social movement, as well as on civil society.
The existing literature proposed that Macau’s mainstream media including the traditional print and digital media often employed a conservative reporting strategy to ignore, dilute or object to these social movements when they responded to these grassroots social movements in order to maintain the legitimacy of the ruling class (Tam, 2003, Liu and Lei, 2008).
In recent years Macau media have not only changed in quantity but also in their form of spreading information. The development of digital technologies resulted in various forms of media and meanwhile online media, which has sprung up around the world and such alternative media or independent media, have also appeared in Macau.
Macau launched its public telecoms service in 1977 and four years later it privatised it, according to a statement about the development progress of the city’s communication and information technologies published on the official website of Macau Post and Telecommunications Bureau (CTT) - the city’s regulator of telecom services. Macau has fully digitalised its phone service network in 1991, three years later after the launch of the city’s mobile phone service or 2G service while the 3G mobile phone service was launched in 2007.
10. According to GCS, there are 18 daily newspapers, 13 in Chinese, two in English a nd three in Portuguese, 20 weekly journals and 17 monthly journals while in 2001, the re were only 46 in total. As mentioned in the government's 2008 Year Book that “alth ough Macau was small its media industry was quite “prosperous” and over the past de cade the number of a daily newspaper in the Chinese language has increased from nin e to 13 nowadays, about 30 percent.
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Meanwhile, two more telecom companies started in 2001 and terminated the monopoly of the city's telecom service - Companhia de Telecomunicações de Macau (CTM) – which had been existing for 31 years de facto although officially the company was given a 20-year monopoly.
The Internet service has been in Macau since 1995 and five years later the broadband Internet service came in to use and the high-speed fibre Internet service was started in 2010. According to the latest official figures from the DSEC, Internet subscribers were recorded at 397,000 and grew by 9.1 percent year-on-year in December 2017. The duration of the Internet usage was 108 million hours in December 2017 and went up by 14.7 percent year-on-year. Ten years ago, the number of Internet subscribers was just 128, 502 while the duration of the Internet usage was just 252, 912 in 2008.DESC data showed that in 2016 Macau Internet users aged 3 and above totalled 499,900, up by 6.2 percent year-on-year; the Internet penetration rate was 81.6 percent, up by four percent.
According to the 18th annual report about the Internet usage of Macau residents conducted by Macao Association for Internet Research (MAIR) showed that there were about 510,000 netizens, an increase of about 20,000 compared to 2016 (MAIR. 2018).
WeChat, Facebook, YouTube and forums were the most popular social network sites (SNS).
It seems that there has not been much research about the development of the city's online media and there has been no official record of the exact number of online media.
However, the development of the online media and their influence are undeniable and unignorable. As observed, there are a number of online media and one of them has even recorded over 100,000 likes and followers on its Facebook page.
With the search engine WiseNews using the keywords - Macau online media in Chinese characters – to search all Chinese language newspapers included in the engine from 2001 to 19 February 2018, the first time the term Macau online media appeared in a newspaper was on 12 December 2014. The newspaper is Chinese language newspaper in Hong Kong Ming Pao Daily News. Meanwhile, the first time the term appeared in a local newspaper was on 12 May, 2015, and then the newspaper was Journal San Wa Ou. On 29 December 2015, the term appeared for the first time on Taiwan’s Yahoo webpage and on 17 December 2017, it was found in Taiwan Apply Daily for the first time. The term has been also found in other Chinese language
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newspapers in Hong Kong including Apple Daily and Oriental Daily News during the period.
The number of times the term “Macau online media” appeared on WiseNews was only 13 and in 2015 they appeared at the most five times while in 2017 it was four-times while in 2016 it was three four-times. It appeared in the Hong Kong Apply Daily at most five times, followed by Ming Pao Daily News with four times.
With the other popular search engine Google using the same keywords the results showed that there were a total of 30 searches by 23 February 2018, and the earliest time the term appeared was on 1 August 2014.
1.2.3 MASSIVE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS/CAMPAIGNS IN MACAU There are several remarkable social movements or social campaigns recorded by the high number of protestors in Macau history, including 12.3 incident and the Mayday protest in 2007 which ended up with a shooting and one person hurt. As existing literature stated online media have interacted with mass social movements somehow over the past years as the rapid development of the social media grew.
－12.3INCIDENT （12.3事件／反殖民）
The 12.3 incident refers to a riot in Macau on 3 December 1966, when local residents protested against the then Portuguese Macau government for its delay in issuing permit for the construction of a private school in Taipa. Many researchers stated that it was inspired by the Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic of China. Red Guards took part in the protest which lasted for more than two months and the people of Zhuhai supported Macau residents and the government was forced to sign a confession statement after the People’s Liberation Army surrounded Macau. The incident is often referred to as "12.3", with reference to the date of the riots in which eight people died, 212 people were injured and 66 people were arrested according to official figures. Lee argues in his research about the 12.3 incident that the seed of nationalism was planted in Macau and the mainland China government had been recognised and even obtained the ruling power somehow after the incident (Lee, 2001).
There have been various large protests with different aims organised since 1966 including an annual sit-in to mourn the victims of 4 June Tiananmen Square massacre
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and calls for a reassessment of the incident since 1990 the year after the tragedy. Except for the 4 June sit-in, there is also the annual Mayday protest. Ho (2014) said that the annual Mayday protest which started in 2006 called for better protection for local employees, a ban on the importation of non-local employees and this was first Mayday protest organised by several unions and in which the grassroots have taken part since 2004 in which year the government called for the establishment of a harmonious
and calls for a reassessment of the incident since 1990 the year after the tragedy. Except for the 4 June sit-in, there is also the annual Mayday protest. Ho (2014) said that the annual Mayday protest which started in 2006 called for better protection for local employees, a ban on the importation of non-local employees and this was first Mayday protest organised by several unions and in which the grassroots have taken part since 2004 in which year the government called for the establishment of a harmonious