Silent ≠ Unconcerned

By Carmen Wong Ka I,Trudy Tang Tin Wai & Seriena Chan Man Teng

On March 16, 2010 in the afternoon, students were expecting something to happen. At 5 o’clock, a student cried out joyfully in class, and initiated a hot discussion with students around him. More students took out their mobile phones and started spreading the news.

“Chui gives MOP6000!”

“MOP6000 this year! Again!” This similar phrase circulated on Facebook among a lot of post-80s users. On the same day, the discussion about the MOP6000, the Macau government‘s 2010 wealth partaking scheme, became the hottest issue on the Internet.

However, when asked about if they know any other aspects concerning the 2010 Fiscal Policy Address, such as the “Sunshine Government Policy”, a post-80s student gave the following reply: “The sunshine government? What’s that?”

The post-80s generation is often criticized for not being concerned about politics. In fact, many of the post-80s read news according to their preferences and interests—they only select news which is related to their concerns.

An online survey among Macao citizens aged 20 or older was conducted by this group of reporters in April 2010, which aims at comparing the perspectives on politics, marriage and family between the post-80s and the non-post-80s. In the survey,  186 sampling subjects were collected, among them 110 were post-80s subjects (aged between 20 and 29) and 76 non-post-80s subjects (aged between 30 and 65).

According to the survey, both groups do not pay much attention to political news when they read newspapers or watch TV news programs. Among the post-80s, only 23.6 percent of them care about political news. Moreover, 8.1 percent of them think they would actively express their opinions to the government. Nonetheless, their “silence” does not mean that they are satisfied with the current government—57.3 percent of the post-80s interviewees are dissatisfied with the Macao government’s policy.

Dr. Agnes Lam, assistant professor and coordinator of Journalism and Public Communication at the University of Macau and the Chief Editor of a local youth magazine New Generation, thinks that most of the post-80s do not have the habit of reading newspapers, which prevents them from seeing the whole picture of the world.

Dr. Agnes Lam, assistant professor and coordinator of Journalism and Public Communication at the University of Macau and the publisher of a local youth magazine New Generation

The young generation tends to obtain news information from the Internet rather than from the print media. “They only read articles which are posted by others on Internet forums or Facebook, thinking that they know all the news,” says Dr. Lam.

Although many post-80s people have basic political knowledge and are among the highest educated group in Macao, many of them do not participate in political activities. According to the survey, almost half of the people aged 20 to 29 have never participated in any political events.

Dr. Lam believes that the education system in Macao discourages people to speak up. “In primary and secondary schools, teachers focus more on teaching students to obey rules,” says she. “Being outstanding and actively expressing one’s opinion are usually discouraged.”

In addition, she thinks that there is no role model in Macao who inspires the post-80s in political activism.  In Hong Kong where a lot of living examples are set before the youths nowadays, youths can easily follow suit and strive hard for a better goal.  Moreover, media in Macao tends to dilute the impact of political activities, thus weakening and discouraging the political consciousness of Macao people.

Moreover, Macao people tend to believe that voicing their opinions will not change the government’s decision towards social issues. This belief is attributed as another factor which reduces the post-80s’ motivation to speak up. The survey shows that over 50 percent of the post-80s do not want to give opinions mainly because of the assumption that they are unable to influence the government decision-making process.

However, there are some exceptions for the cold attitude towards politics among youths in Macao. Jason Chao is one of the post-80s who joined political parties and is determined to strive for the welfare and right of the society in Macao.

According to Chao, he started to take part in political activities when he was in Form 5. “Seeing the injustices of the society, I was determined to take an active role in politics in Macao,” he remarks. In addition, reading local and foreign newspapers helped him to have critical thinking towards social issues and to believe in the right of speaking up.

Chao says that he does not feel desperate despite the cold attitude towards political issues among his peers. “It is a big mountain, and all I can do is to make progress step by step.”

Chao admits that youths in Macao only care about issues affecting themselves; however, he thinks that the situation is getting improved in that there is an increasing concern on the part of youngsters on social issues, which was reflected during the May Day demonstration 2010. A call in local Internet forums urging approximately 400 youths to join the demonstration and stand up for their right to express their opinions about the government marked a starting point for playing a more active role in society among the youths.