Macao Daily silent about arrest of its reporters

Cui Zizhao, assistant publisher of Macao Daily and deputy director of the online publication Macao Concealers, and intern reporter Liang Jiawei were arrested on August 30 and detained overnight in a local police station. They were then transferred to the procuratorate. Government has become more repressive on the Civil Referendum, but the public has little access to such news in Macao. News about them being taken away by the police was not mentioned at all in Macao Daily, the paper with the largest circulation in Macao. Instead, the paper featured an article on page A3 about the region’s chief executive, entitled “Cui Shi’an Chats with the Locals at a Street Market,” trying to create the impression of broad support for Cui Shi’an.

A group of more than 10 members of the New Macau Association and Civil Referendum volunteers gathered at the procuratorate to support the two arrested journalists. They criticized the police’s unreasonable crackdown on activists and objected that journalists had been reduced to tools of a repressive government. More than a dozen Association members and Civil Referendum volunteers showed support outside, holding signs saying “Entrapment is shameful,” “If you want to make someone guilty, all you do is to be shameless!” ne supporter, former Legislative Council member Chen Weizhi, pointed out that a string of similar incidents has shown the government’s lack of confidence, which “did not even tolerate an intern.”

Since it started on August 24, the Civil Referendum has suffered significant government repression. On the date when the voting station started operating, volunteers at five voting stations were arrested. The Civil Referendum advocate Zhou Xiting has been taken to the Judicial Police Department multiple times for investigation. People at voting sites were taken away and the sites were closed down. Macau residents could only vote online. The week-long public voting was to end by Aug. 30. More than 8,000 people voted. Macao youth executive chairperson Guan Wanshan felt encouraged by the outcome. She said that the number of voters had increased this time as compared with a similar civil referendum in 2012 for the solicitation of views on political reform. This illustrates that more people are willing to publicly express their views.

http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/taiwan/2014/08/201408310904.shtml