Democrat ready to build on public's victory in Macau

Seeing a future for democracy in his beloved Macau was once a struggle for Sulu Sou Ka-hou. The teacher and civil rights campaigner often spent his time wondering when, if ever, his fellow citizens would stand up to the unfair policies of the undemocratically elected government.

Last week, as he stood on a chair, microphone in hand, leading a sea of protesters outside the Legislative Assembly, the 22-year-old sensed that times were changing. The event - which attracted a broadly apolitical cross-section of society - was the culmination of a series of protests demanding the government drop a bill offering lavish welfare packages to retiring top officials.

Two days earlier, 20,000, according to the organisers, had taken part in the biggest march in Macau since the June 4 crackdown in 1989. Police put the figure at nearer 7,000. They gathered to voice their discontent over the bill, which would have granted outgoing chief executives a monthly stipend of 70 per cent of their salary until they found new employment, and immunity from criminal charges to serving chief executives.

The high-profile shows of people power forced the administration to back down. Macau Chief Executive Dr Fernando Chui Sai-on withdrew the bill last Thursday, admitting the government should have paid greater attention to public opinion.

The developments changed Sou's world, but they came almost unexpectedly.

"It was rather lonely to be a democrat in Macau before the incident," Sou recalls. "I was still envying Taiwan for its sunflower student movement in March and also Hongkongers' anti-national education protests [in 2012]. I always wished Macau could do something similar but I was not optimistic."