Special Report – Sulu Sou

What better way to celebrate Macau Business’s 17th anniversary than to showcase 17 locals aged 35 and younger?

MB May 2021 Special Report | 17 talented young people

The city’s youngest ever elected lawmaker, at 29 Sulu Sou is the SAR’s most outspoken opposition politician and advocate for universal suffrage. He was first noticed when he was just 18.

Whatever happens in the future, Sulu Sou has already left his mark on Macau politics: in the most recent elections to the Legislative Assembly, Sulu Sou became the youngest ever deputy (26 years old) to be elected.

Furthermore, in the performance of his duties as lawmaker he was convicted (in 2018)  of the crime of aggravated disobedience in relation to a demonstration against the donation of one hundred million yuan from the Macau Foundation to the Mainland Chinese University of Jinan, which he organized back in May of 2016 as vice president of the New Macau Association. Sulu Sou became the first local legislator to be sentenced, when 28 of his 32 Assembly colleagues voted to suspend him from the body so that he could be prosecuted under Macau law.

For those in Macau who believe in universal suffrage, Sulu Sou has become a reference, as were Ng Kuok Cheong and Au Kam San during the Macau SAR’s first two decades.

He used to say it was his studies in Taiwan that had awakened him to politics and social causes, but the truth is that just before traveling to Taiwan Sulu Sou was noticed when he questioned Chui Sai On during a public hearing in the runup to the 2009 Chief Executive Election. Standing up in the hall of Keang Peng School, the then 18-year-old senior high school student asked what practical method the Chief Executive would adopt to gain the trust of citizens who doubted his ability to govern.

Sulu Sou had started to take an interest in political issues during the 2008 Legislative Elections in Hong Kong, at the age of 17.

Unsurprisingly, he chose to study politics at university. In 2009, he was admitted to the National Taiwan University’s Department of Political Science.

It was in 2011, during his summer holidays, that he had his first contact with the New Macau Association as a volunteer. On his return from Taiwan he joined the movement. In 2013 he was number two on the list of Au Kam San but was not elected. But that didn’t discourage him. The following year he was one of the leaders of the anti-perks bill movement, which held a demonstration that was the largest for many years against the controversial bill granting lavish benefits packages to retiring officials.

In the upcoming September legislative elections, Sulu Sou will fight to secure a second term in the legislature, and most observers believe his election to be highly likely.

Born on 28 June 1991, he studied at the Roman Catholic school Colégio Diocesano de São José, divided his achievements between academics and football (he played goalkeeper for Macau’s national under-18 football team).

In the end, good grades took precedence over the “beautiful game”. But he is seen by his supporters as the city’s goalkeeper, defending the democratization of the SAR’s political system.

Previous | Stephanie Chiang