Macau frontrunners vow to tackle crime

Both leading candidates to become Macau's chief executive have pledged a crackdown on crime should they be chosen.

In uncompromising manifestoes released yesterday, Edmund Ho Hau-wah and Stanley Au Chong-kit said stiffer penalties for criminals and reform of the gambling system were essential.

Mr Ho said in his manifesto: 'Faced with the challenge of flagrant crimes, stiffer penalties must be adopted to act as deterrents.

'This will not only give a severe warning to would-be criminals and thus protect Macau's innocent citizens, but also instil in policemen of the Macau Special Administrative Region a sense of pride in their work.

'For this purpose, the [new] government will actively participate in amending and revising the relevant articles in penal legislation,' the 44-year-old banker and legislator wrote.

Macau's current Portuguese-style penal code bans life imprisonment and capital punishment. The stiffest sentence allowed is 30 years.

'Macau residents are anxious for issues concerning public security, law and order, and the economy to be tackled first,' Mr Ho said, promising to act if anointed chief executive by a 200-member Selection Committee on May 15.