Affordable Housing Shortage Draws Protests P2
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
GOVERNMENT HEADQUARTERS TO OPEN TO THE PUBLIC THIS WEEKEND P3 INSIDE Fri.16 Oct 2015 T. 22º/ 30º C H. 45/ 90% Blackberry email service powered by CTM MOP 5.00 2420 N.º HKD 7.50 FOUNDER & PUBLISHER Kowie Geldenhuys EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Paulo Coutinho “ THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ ” WORLD BRIEFS AUSTRALIA Two men Affordable housing will be charged over the fatal shooting of a police accountant outside a Sydney police P2 building two weeks ago shortage draws protests as investigators continue to probe an extremist network with members as young as 12, officials said yesterday. GERMANY Graffiti artists hired to work on the set of Showtime’s “Homeland” The Parisian have duped the popular series, painting Arabic slogans criticizing the Macao’s Eiffel show on walls seen in the background. In the episode aired in the P3 U.S. Sunday — set in a Tower tops out Hezbollah-run refugee camp in Lebanon but filmed in Berlin — star Claire Danes can be seen walking by slogans including “Homeland is racist” and “Homeland is a joke and it didn’t make us laugh.” AP PHOTO UK Doctors have found that Ebola can linger in some male survivors for up to nine months but aren’t sure if that means they might still be infectious, according to new research. In a study of 93 men in Sierra Leone, scientists found the Ebola virus in semen samples from about half of them. The risk seemed to decline over time. Ebola was detected in all nine men tested at two to three months after their illness began but in only 11 of the 43 survivors tested at seven to nine months. More on backpage 16.10.2015 fri th Anniversary 2 MACAU 澳聞 GAMING GROUP Affordable housing shortage JOINS PROTEST POWER OF the Macao Gam- ing Association convenor Ste- draws protests phen Lau and lawmaker Leong Veng Chai submitted a petition to the government yesterday Aries Un long you have to wait, being ho- morning, urging for a “clear peful, when there’s a queue, whe- mechanism” for afforda- UBLIC demand for afforda- reas the draw mode seems ‘less ble housing applicants. “There Pble housing has intensified, prudent’ and ‘perfunctory.’” said should be an exact schedule as after a long-awaited ballot draw Jeremy Lei, vice- president of the to how many economic housing early last week shattered over MCDI, referring to the preceding units would come up for eligi- 40,000 applicants’ dreams of system that allowed applicants to ble citizens,” Lau told media. owning a house at an affordab- continue waiting for flats that are “The authorities have got to le price. Civil organizations now under construction. It was just a deliver a message to citizens as seek to marshal citizens’ streng- matter of time. to how long they have to wait, th and reinstall a defunct regime Those families who fail to secu- how to be eligible, when and that guarantees applicants a flat re a flat in the draw must return how many [units] are avail- as part of a long-term arrange- for another round, but are pro- able.” Lau believes the city’s leader Chui Sai On would ad- ment. Leong Veng Chai submitted a petition to the government yesterday bably assigned the same classifi- dress the plight facing many A demonstration is being plan- cation in a draw that also favors ned for this coming Sunday af- Additionally, the protesters families with aged and junior families in his November policy ternoon, organized by the Macau want to pressure the government members. Leong Ka Fai, another address. “It’s almost impossible for Macau youth to own a flat,” Community Development Initia- to bring back the former system young member of the concern he added. “It’s pretty much the tive (MCDI), which is supported used to select eligible grantees group, expressed his disappoint- same when it comes to some by lawmakers Au Kam San and for the scarce affordable housing Let’s not turn ment with the current system, middle-class citizens.” Ng Kuok Cheong. Prior to the de- units. through which he believed it teenagers into monstration, an improvised con- According to the current mode, would take an “infinite” amount ‘housing slaves’ cern group told media in a press potential grantees were catego- of time for him to be eligible for member in his fifties. “Let’s not conference that they aimed to rized according to three groups, an affordable home. turn teenagers into ‘housing sla- who’d end up exert pressure on the authorities with families consisting of blood- “We couldn’t rival other fami- ves’ who’d end up working hard to build 40,000 housing units - a relatives prioritized, followed by lies with elderly members and for nothing.” working hard quantity responsive to the num- families with members not di- minors,” he said, noting that Another two members, Cloee ber of those unsuccessful appli- rectly related to each other, and he hails from a family of three. Chao and Ieong Man Teng, also for nothing. cants who entered the draw - then by individuals. “Chui has promised us a ‘sunny well-known activists in gaming- PROTESTER before 2019. “You would therefore know how government,’” said another related issues, said that there were sufficient land reserves available to satisfy housing re- quirements, according to their New Macau collects signatures outside Red Market own estimates. On Wednesday, the Secretary HE New Macau Association held a lawmakers who vetoed the former model for Transport and Public Works, Tsignature-collecting campaign right accompanied the campaign, drawing the Raimundo Rosario, asserted outside the Red Market yesterday. Their attention of passersby and those contri- on the sidelines of a ceremony efforts, which would continue at least buting their signatures. “As everyone that the authorities have yet to until Sunday, serve to alert all of the 33 seems to have woken up, let’s fast ba- recover even one idle land swa- lawmakers about the appeal of the pre- ckward to the time when those lawmakers the for development, while also vious model for families awaiting econo- failed to defend their interests,” he said. downplaying the upcoming mar- mic housing. Chiang also noted that last week’s result ch. “It’s everyone’s right to de- “We wish to turn the resentment into was obviously an indicator of the acute monstrate, and it’s also normal drive for changes to the system,” said land shortage versus increasing demand. to have differing views,” he said. Chiang Meng Hin, the association’s head, “No matter how you divide the 1,900 uni- Ieong expressed his belief that echoing Ieong’s viewpoint. ts, it wouldn’t satisfy the 42,000 families the official’s remarks might have Chiang believes that mounting housing me, and to devote more idle land to social at the end of the day,” he said. “Unless the triggered fresh resentment, fur- demand would only be addressed if the housing development. secretary is the Jesus Christ who knows ther boosting the turnout of the authorities were to reinstate the old sche- A graphic bearing the faces of the 19 how to do loaves of bread and fish.” march. HE Fire Services Bu- anti-fire awareness has Treau has been called risen significantly. fewer times to fight fires Fire brigade copes with fewer The Fire Services Bu- in the first nine months reau has also dispatched of the year, compared to personnel to visit the oil the equivalent period last blazes, more emergency calls depot located near Ka- Ho year. However, the fire Village and the temporary brigade has seen more an approximate 13-per- The data released on last year to 1,015 this year, citywide, rising by 5.19 fuel storage facility in Ilha incidents overall this year cent drop from the same Wednesday also shows while the deployment of percent to a total of 3564 Verde 380 times since than last year. timeframe last year, with that the number of rescue ambulances also increa- rounds. They commen- the start of the year, with The 780 blazes recorded most attributed to negli- works conducted by fire- sed by 6.98 percent. ded residents for being both facilities recognized from the start of the year gence in turning off sto- men has gone up by arou- The authorities intensi- cooperative in reducing as being up to par in ter- until September indicates ves and short circuits. nd 8.3 percent from 937 fied their anti-fire patrols incidents, claiming that ms of safety. DIRECTOR AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF_Paulo Coutinho [email protected] A MACAU TIMES PUBLICATIONS LTD PUBLICATION www.macaudailytimes.com.mo MANAGING EDITOR_Paulo Barbosa [email protected] MDT’s Website has logged over CONTRIBUTING EDITORS_Eric Sautedé, Leanda Lee, Severo Portela ADMINISTRATOR AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER CHINA & FOREIGN EDITOR_Vanessa Moore [email protected] Kowie Geldenhuys [email protected] 94 million page views DESIGN EDITOR_João Jorge Magalhães [email protected] | NEWSROOM AND CONTRIBUTORS_ SECRETARY Juliana Cheang [email protected] Albano Martins, Annabel Jackson, Aries Un, Brook Yang, Emilie Tran, Grace Yu, Irene Sam, Jacky I.F. Cheong, Jenny Lao-Phillips, ADDRESS Av. da Praia Grande, 599, Edif. Comercial Rodrigues, 12 Floor C, since January 1st, 2012 up to today. João Palla Martins, Joseph Cheung, Juliet Risdon, Renato Marques, Richard Whitfield, Robert Carroll (Hong Kong MACAU SAR Telephones: +853 287 160 81/2 Fax: +853 287 160 84 correspondent), Rodrigo de Matos (cartoonist), Ruan Du Toit Bester, Sandra Norte (designer), Viviana Seguí | ASSOCIATE Advertisement [email protected] Thank You! CONTRIBUTORS_JML Property, MacauHR, MdME Lawyers, PokerStars | NEWS AGENCIES_ Associated Press, Bloomberg, For subscription and general issues: Lusa News Agency, MacauHub, MacauNews, Xinhua | SECRETARY_Yang Dongxiao [email protected] [email protected] | Printed at Welfare Printing Ltd Like us? facebook.com/mdtimes SEND NEWSWORTHY INFORMATION AND PRESS RELEASES TO: [email protected] WEBSITE: WWW.MACAUDAILYTIMES.COM.MO fri 16.10.2015 th Anniversary 澳聞 MACAU 3 HE Parisian Macao resort reached one of REPLICA EIFFEL its most significant TOWER FUN FACTS milestones yesterday.