AO MAN LONG’S LUXURY US BARS CHINESE WOMAN GOODS AUCTIONED PURCHASE OF MONEYGRAM A batch of luxury goods, JAILED Jack Ma has dropped his bid to confiscated from the former OVER TAXI buy money transfer company Secretary for Transport and BRAWL MoneyGram after Washington Public Works was auctioned rejected the USD1.2b deal P4 P5 CRIME P8 THU.04 Jan 2018 T. 16º/ 21º C H. 65/ 95% facebook.com/mdtimes + 11,000 MOP 8.00 2958 N.º HKD 10.00 FOUNDER & PUBLISHER Kowie Geldenhuys EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Paulo Coutinho www.macaudailytimes.com.mo “ THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ ” WORLD BRIEFS AP PHOTO Korean cross-border US-IRAN The Trump P11, 12, 13 administration has thrown the weight of the hotline reopens U.S. government behind the protesters taking to the streets of Iran, rooting them on despite the risk of helping Iranian authorities AP PHOTO dismiss a week of major demonstrations as the product of American instigation. More on p14 SRI LANKA’s president said yesterday that a commission he appointed to investigate alleged irregularities in the sale of treasury bonds has recommended the prosecution of the country’s former finance minister on bribery charges. US-PALESTINE U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to threaten to cut off aid money to the Palestinian Authority, asking why the U.S. should make “any of these massive future payments” when the Palestinians are “no longer willing to talk peace.” AP PHOTO ETHIOPIA In a surprise move, Ethiopia’s leader yesterday announced This photo shows a Chinese plans to drop charges against political pirate flag captured from a fort prisoners and close a US Navy rediscovers not far from Macau in 1854, at the notorious prison camp U.S. Naval Academy Museum in in what he called an Annapolis, Md. The flag is one of effort to “widen the 46 flags that have been sealed in democratic space for Macau pirate flag hidden display cases behind other flags all.” This is the first time for nearly 100 years. The cases the government has acknowledged holding were opened recently and the flags political prisoners. for nearly a century P2 were removed as part of a flag More on p14 preservation project. More on backpage 04.01.2018 thu 2 MACAU 澳聞 WWW.MACAUDAILYTIMES.COM.MO HE curator of the U.S. TNaval Academy Museum wasn’t exactly sure what AP PHOTO would be found: records in- dicated five display boxes long used to exhibit captured British flags from the War of 1812 actually concealed more banners underneath. But not until all 61 banners were painstakingly removed in December for a conserva- tion effort did curator Char- les Swift, who is also the mu- seum’s managing director, actually see what was hidden. And he was gratified to learn that conservationists had un- covered dozens of other flags — many captured by the Navy in other conflicts of the 19th century. The 46 newly discovered flags, covered by the others in boxes with large plate- glass lids, speak to an earlier era of U.S. intervention over- seas. They include one taken from a Chinese pirate fort off Macau dating to 1854. A PIRATE ENCLAVE Macau has a long history of pirate activity, dating back even before the arrival of the Charles Swift, managing director and curator of the U.S. Naval Academy Museum, stands in front of a case where the flags shown behind him had been tucked away from Portuguese. view behind another flag on display for nearly 100 years By the early 16th century, the waters of Southern China had become infested with pi- racy, providing the opportu- nity for Portuguese naval of- ficers to win favor from Ming China by agreeing to combat US Navy rediscovers Macau pirate the Wokou pirates from Ja- pan. Some 300 years later, piracy flag hidden for nearly a century in Chinese coastal waters re- mained a serious threat. Two of the most famous Chinese “Some of the pirates were vibrant colors — of them for the conservation, about ve the academy’s collection pirates, Ching Shih (Madame transformed [from piracy] having not been in light for USD40,000, came from the of trophy flags. She worked Ching) and Cheung Po Tsai, to naval officers [working] 100 years, and so it was ex- U.S. Naval History and He- with dozens of other women commanded the 300-junk for the Chinese government,” citing.” ritage Command, which is in the museum’s Mahan Hall, Red Flag Fleet, terrorizing he said, commenting on the Swift said no one had at- tasked with preserving arti- using a patented stitching the region until their sur- links between the Portuguese tempted to open the boxes facts, documents and other method to help preserve the render to the Portuguese in enclave and piracy. “Others for so long until it came time items of that military branch. fabric. All told, they stitched 1810, following defeat at the turned from [state-sanctio- for needed conservation. up enough flags to cover two Battle of the Tiger’s Mouth. ned] protectors of the fisher- “We are ultimately stewards THE FOWLER LEGACY football fields, Swift said. Ching Shih then notoriously men [in Macau] to a life of of these objects that tell im- In 1849, then-President Camille Myers Breeze is retired from her life of pira- piracy.” portant stories,” he added. James K. Polk designated working on a new conserva- cy, but kept her loot and set Guedes could not identify Swift also said funding the academy in Annapolis, tion process for the flags as up a gambling house in Ma- the fort captured by the Ame- Maryland, as the repository director of an independent cau. ricans without further infor- of flags captured in battle conservation studio, Mu- João Guedes, a journalist mation, but speculated that by the Navy. The museum is seum Textile Services, based and writer who is knowle- it might have been located now home to about 800 flags in Massachusetts. She said dgeable about Macau’s his- on one of the islands that are By the mid-19th and trusted with their con- Fowler’s work has enabled tory, said that many pirates today a part of Hong Kong, servation, Swift said. About her crew to handle the flags settled in the city during the such as Lantau. century, there 250 of them are trophy fla- without risk of damage. 19th century. were frequent gs seized in battle. The mu- “For us to conserve a collec- “By the mid-19th century, NEVER BEFORE SEEN seum also houses seafaring tion of flags like this that’s there were a few naval ships No one alive had seen the fights between instruments, naval uniforms, historical — not only for its in Macau from Portugal that newly restored flags, long hi- medals, photographs, art and use, but for how it was pre- patrolled the Pearl River Del- dden from view. the Portuguese items recalling past naval ex- served and how it has been ta, but also all the way up “More importantly than peditions and explorations. installed here for 100 years to Shanghai, to protect fo- just seeing them was seeing navy and the Amelia Fowler, a well-k- for Naval Academy studen- reign commerce. There were the colors,” said Swift. “It is pirates. nown flag preserver who res- ts and visitors to appreciate frequent fights between the what struck me immediately. tored the original Star- Span- and learn from,” she said. Portuguese navy and the pi- It was sort of dark, but you João GUEDES gled Banner in 1914, was “It’s really our favorite kind rates.” could see the colors — the JoURNALIST, RESEARCHER contracted in 1912 to conser- of project.” MDT/AP www.macaudailytimes.com.mo EDITOR-IN-CHIEF (DIRECTOR)_Paulo Coutinho [email protected] A MACAU TIMES PUBLICATIONS LTD PUBLICATION MANAGING EDITOR_Paulo Barbosa [email protected] CONTRIBUTING EDITORS_Eric Sautedé, Leanda Lee, Severo Portela ADMINISTRATOR AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER + 4 Million page views Kowie Geldenhuys [email protected] NEWSROOM AND CONTRIBUTORS_Albano Martins, Annabel Jackson, Daniel Beitler, Emilie Tran, Grace Yu, SECRETARY Denise Lo [email protected] PER MONTH Ivo Carneiro de Sousa, Jacky I.F. Cheong, Jenny Lao-Phillips, João Palla Martins, Joseph Cheung, Julie Zhu, ADDRESS Av. da Praia Grande, 599, Edif. 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Ruan Du Toit Bester | NEWS AGENCIES_ Associated Press, Bloomberg, Financial Times, MacauHub, MacauNews, For subscription and general issues: [email protected] | Printed at Welfare Printing Ltd +12,000 like us on facebook.com/mdtimes Xinhua | SECRETARY_Yang Dongxiao [email protected] SEND NEWSWORTHY INFORMATION AND PRESS RELEASES TO: [email protected] WEBSITE: WWW.MACAUDAILYTIMES.COM.MO thu 04.01.2018 th Anniversary MACAU’S LEADING NEWSPAPER 廣告 ADVERTISEMENT 3 04.01.2018 thu 4 MACAU 澳聞 WWW.MACAUDAILYTIMES.COM.MO Batch of Ao’s luxury goods auctioned batch of luxury goods, con- arrested on suspicion of va- A fiscated from the former rious crimes, including bribery Secretary for Transport and and money laundering. In Ja- Public Works Ao Man Long, nuary 2008, he was sentenced was auctioned last month by to 27 years in prison for 57 the Financial Services Bureau counts of bribery, money lau- (DSF). Radio Macau reported ndering and abuse of power, yesterday that the administra- among other charges. tion has earned MOP640,000 from the auction to date.