Macau, China, 12 Feb – Around 45 percent of Macau residents are “not interested in political affairs”, according to a survey conducted by the government’s Research Centre for Sustainable Development Strategies (CEEDS).
The survey showed that 44.7 percent of Macau’s residents are “not interested in political affairs”, some 40.6 percent of the respondents said they were “somewhat” interested in politics, while just 12.7 percent said they were interested in political affairs. About two percent said they had no opinion on the matter.
The survey also revealed that 28.6 percent said they found the government’s performance “satisfactory,” while 45.6 percent classified it as “reasonable” and 23.4 percent as “unsatisfactory.” The remaining 2.4 percent had no opinion.
Some 42.2 percent said that Macau’s “one country, two systems” principle was functioning “well,” while 36.7 percent said it was functioning “reasonably well.” Just 13.5 percent said it was “not functioning.” The remaining 7.6 percent had no opinion.
On the political front, 82 percent said they never participated in activities organised by political organisations last year. A mere 1.5 percent said they did so “frequently.”
However, 66 percent said they planned to vote in this autumn’s legislative elections. Just 14.1 percent said they had decided not to cast their ballot.
The survey also showed that Macau people find social welfare rights much more important than political rights.
In terms of political duties, the respondents said they found law-abiding behaviour more important than the right to vote.
Some 43.7 percent said they believed that they had no influence at all on government policies, while just 14.2 percent said they have a “reasonable” amount of influence. However, 40.4 percent said they believed the government was interested in their opinions.
Just 21 percent said that local people were fully capable of governing Macau. Some 49.9 percent said that local people had a “reasonable” level of capability to govern Macau, while the remainder had no opinion or believed that the capability was insufficient or simply not there.
Some 25.3 percent said they found the “degree of democratic development” in Macau “satisfactory.” Some 46.9 percent said they found the level to be “reasonable,” while 22.2 percent found it “unsatisfactory.” Some 5.5 percent had no opinion.
About 70.2 percent said that Macau’s closer relations with the mainland were “beneficial” for Macau. Just 9.1 percent said the opposite was the case.
The CEEDS conducted the survey on 11-13 July last year. A total of 1,017 residents aged at least 18 responded to the telephone survey.
(MacauNews)
