People are increasingly less confident in the future of Macau, the second part of the annual survey on the SAR for 2014 of the University of Hong Kong reveals. ‘Trust in Macau’s future and ‘One country, two systems’ has dropped to an all-time low since the handover in 1999’, the authors of the study said. ‘People’s confidence in the future of Macau, the future of China, and ‘One country, two systems’ have all remained positive but their net values continue to drop’, it added.
Of 502 questionnaires completed by Macau residents, 74 per cent said they had confidence in the city, while in 2013 76 per cent expressed confidence in it. At the same time, the number of people saying that they did not have confidence in the future of Macau increased from 19 to 21 per cent. Five per cent did not respond to this question.
In relation to the ‘One country, two systems’ policy, 70 per cent answered that they were confident about it, while in 2013 75 per cent were. By contrast, 23 per cent of Macau residents confessed to a lack of confidence in this policy, an increase of 4 per cent in relation to 2013. This year, 7 per cent did not answer this question, while that value was 6 per cent in 2013.
With relation to the future of China, 80 per cent (down from 81 per cent in 2013) said they were confident, while 14 per cent (up from 12 per cent in 2013) said they lacked confidence in it.
Although most indicators are positive, the study stresses ‘people are getting less positive than previous years regarding the development of Macau in the year past’.
With relation to the main concerns of the Macau population, livelihood problems were identified as their main concern by 69 per cent, while the economic situation was stressed by 24 per cent, and 4 per cent mentioned the political situation. Roughly 3 per cent of those questioned failed to answer the question. ‘Livelihood issues continue to be Macau people’s most concerning issues followed by economic and then political issues, a pattern which has existed for many years’, the study explained.
People losing faith in Macau and Central Governments
According to the results of the annual survey for 2014, the Macau and Beijing Government are seen as trustworthy but are nonetheless losing the trust of the Special Administrative Region residents.
In relation to the executive of Chui Sai On, 53 per cent (down from 58 per cent) said they trust it, while 21 per cent (up from 19 per cent) confessed to no trust in it.
President Ji Xinping is also struggling to retain the trust of the people living in Macau. While in 2013, 56 per cent of Macau residents said they trusted his government, this value decreased to 52 per cent in 2014. On the other hand, more people say they do not trust the Central Government. This number increased in one year from 16 to 19 per cent.
‘Compared to one year ago, people’s net trust [difference between positive and negative answers] in the Macau SAR and Central Governments have both dropped, to positive 32 and 33 percentage points, respectively. The latter is a record low since the handover in 1999’, the report declared.
