China Government to Clean Up Crime in Macau After Beijing Olympics
Written on March 9, 2008 by Macau
The activities of Macau’s gangsters, or triads are being kept in check by a plentiful market and the watchful eye of the Mainland government, according to a local university professor, reports Macau Daily Times.
Underworld figures that operate in casinos are being careful not to step out of line in fear of retribution from the Mainland government, Eilo Yu, assistant professor from the University of Macau’s (UM) department of government and public administration said yesterday.
Doctor Yu was speaking during a seminar on social, political and economic transformation at the UM campus.
“They do not want to fight with each other, especially now the Chinese have adopted a tough policy,” he said.
“If they do something bad in Macau it will be bad for their interests in Mainland China, especially for the head of the organisation.”
The assistant professor, who said he had interviewed figures from the underworld, or gangsters, said members of the organised gangs operate inside of casinos where they “served” guests and sometimes brought in customers.
“Casinos have to make connections with high-roller customers in the Mainland” for their VIP,” said doctor Yu.
“The connection seems to be through triads or gangsters, at least some of them.”
Inside the casinos the activities of the organised gangs were not necessarily illegal but had the potential to result in crime, he said.
The gang members offered services to gamblers such as credit for gaming, he continued.
“This may not be illegal, as it is a kind of business but sometimes it involves illegal activity such as loan sharking” and forceful debt collection, said Dr Yu.
The Chinese government went to a lot of effort to suppress gang-related crime after the handover in 1999, said doctor Yu.
However the violence and “gang wars” that occurred during the end of the Portuguese rule were also caused by a receding economy and a lack of VIP gambling revenue to share around, the assistant professor said.
The current expanding market is helping keep the peace between rival gangs as there is enough high-rollers to share around, he said.
It was also possibly better for locals if underworld figures remained attached to casinos, the assistant professor contended.
“If you kick them out of casinos, where will they go – on to the street and then there will be more crime,” he said.
However Dr Yu argued that more rigourous law enforcement was required as it could not be taken for granted that the current peace would last, especially if market conditions changed.
“The Macau government doesn’t have sufficient regulations” to control criminal activities related to casinos, said Dr Yu.
“We should not rely on informal understandings and Beijing must consider a plan for the future.”
Late last year the former head of Hong Kong’s Criminal Intelligence Bureau, Steve Vickers, said Beijing will crack down on organised crime following this year’s Olympic Games.
“I generally believe that corruption is getting out of control. Macau is becoming a mess,” he said.
“China’s focus is on the Olympics, but 15 minutes after they finish, their attention will be turned to Macau. This is a serious concern for the central government.”
Individual visas boost prostitution
Gangs also ran well organised prostitution rackets in Macau, the assistant professor said, bringing in workers from the Mainland on tourist visitors.
“Sex workers from the Mainland can just get a travellers visa so they can stay for up to three months,” Dr Yu said.
Their employers also have a system to keep them working.
“They can stay for awhile and go somewhere else and return,” said Dr Yu, adding that “some fly to Thailand” to then extend their visas.
In total one Mainland sex worker can work for “about half a year” using tourist visas, he said.
Prostitution is not illegal in Macau and residents tended not to mind the presence of sex workers unless they became “active in residential areas”, said Dr Yu.
Political conscience
The political awareness of Macau citizens is also increasing and although not at levels seen in Hong Kong, interest groups are becoming more active, the assistant professor told a group of local and US students here on exchange.
The revenue flowing through Macau was funding interest groups independent of the government, he said, which would slowly begin to have more influence.
The local action group that wrote to the United Nations accusing the government of not preserving the heritage area around the Guia Lighthouse was an example of the new active approach, he said.
Chinese residents were turned off from politics during the colonial era as the Portuguese government paid little attention to Chinese interests, Dr Yu said.
Residents became used to relying on each other for support and are therefore more concerned with social issues than politics, he followed.
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