Macau (MNA) –Â The chairman of the 1st standing committee, Ho Ion Sang, told the media that while the committee was aware of concerns surrounding the obligation of the media to co-operate with the government when the Chinese national anthem is played, the contents of the draft law will remain unchanged.
On Thursday, the Journalist Association of Macau (JA Macau) released a statement raising concerns that this law would undermine editorial independence, arguing that Section 7-C, which deals with these rules, should be abolished as the ‘media is not the propaganda machine of the regime.’
Ho said the committee had accepted the government’s opinion that there would be no threat to editorial independence as the arrangements under the new law is similar to what is already in place.
In addition, the action of disrespecting the anthem has not been criminalised, and no administrative penalties will be dealt for disrespecting the national anthem.
Law no. 5/1999 was passed on Establishment Day of the Macau Special Administrative Region on December 20, 1999, which protects the national flag, the national emblem and the national anthem.
The current iteration of the law is meant to localise a version of the national anthem law, due to the legislative differences in Macau and the mainland.
According to the Basic Law, national laws (from China) will not be applied in the two autonomous regions, except for those listed in Annex 3 of the law.
This law was included in Annex 3 after a decision by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress made on November 4, 2017.
