The grassroots New Macau Association (NMA) will ask residents to vote on how to reform the public Macau Foundation (FM), NMA Vice-President Jason Chao Teng Hei said yesterday, adding that his group was gathering the public’s views until July 30 on how the proposed poll should be conducted.
Chao and four fellow NMA members held a press conference at the group’s office in Nam Van. He said the foundation did not process applications of subsidies in a transparent way and slammed the public body for its decision, in April, to donate 100 million yuan (122 million patacas) to Jinan University in Guangzhou.
A total of 17 groups, including Chao’s, protested last month with the aim of putting pressure on the foundation to withdraw the decision. The public foundation, which has a budget of around 2.9 billion patacas this year, is mainly funded by 1.6 percent of the gross gaming revenues of Macau’s casinos.
New Macau Association (NMA) Vice-President Jason Chao Teng Hei (centre) speaks during yesterday’s press conference at the group’s office in Nam Van while NMA President Scott Chiang Meng Hin (right) and Lei Kuok Keong, a board member of the grassroots group, look on. Photo: Davis Ip
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