The “Crime Prevention and Civil Defence Campaign 2025 For South East Asia Imported Workers” was held yesterday, with the aim of promoting legal education for Southeast Asian non-resident workers (NRW) in Macau.
The one-day event took place at Rotunda de Carlos da Maia (aka Three Lamps), a neighbourhood popular with NRWs from Southeast Asia.
Macau United Citizens Association (ACUM) Vice President Chan Ian Ian said in a speech that there are currently over 183,000 NRWs employed in Macau, of which approximately 62,000 are from Southeast Asian countries.
Chan said that Southeast Asian workers may encounter challenges in their interactions with residents due to differences in language, culture and lifestyle, potentially leading to neighbourhood conflicts. Additionally, the NRWs often face difficulties in accessing and understanding local information, owing to a lack of familiarity with Macau’s laws, thereby increasing the risk of unintentional legal violations.
To address these issues, Chan added that her association has actively supported the “Community Policing” initiative promoted by the Secretariat for Security, making Southeast Asian workers a key target group for community outreach events.
Chan said that through ongoing legal education efforts covering crime prevention, civil defence, public health, and labour relations, her association aims to enhance NRWs’ understanding of Macau’s legal framework, seeking to help them better integrate into the local community, safeguard their rights, and promote social harmony and inclusion.
ACUM Vice Chairman Ao Ieong Kuong Kao told reporters on the sidelines of event that in recent years, several cases of recruitment fraud targeting NRWs have occurred in Macau, with victims including individuals from the Philippines and Indonesia. Ao Ieong pointed out that one such case involved over 400,000 patacas. He noted that some Southeast Asians mistakenly believe that their compatriots can directly secure jobs for them here, leading them to fall victim to such scams.
Macau Overseas Workers Association (MOVA) President Lourenço Lameiras told reporters on the sidelines of event that in recent years some Southeast Asian NRWs have fallen victim to job recruitment scams, pointing out that the scams often target individuals, particularly Myanmar nationals who only speak their national language, with promises of employment in Macau; and many of the victims arrive on tourist visas with the intention of getting a job, adding that the direct hiring of foreign NRWs arriving on tourist visas operates in a grey area of the law.
Macau United Citizens Association (ACUM) Vice President Chan Ian Ian (first from left), ACUM Vice Chairman Ao Ieong Kuong Kao (first from right) pose for a group photo during yesterday’s “Crime Prevention and Civil Defence Campaign 2025 For South East Asia Imported Workers” at Rotunda de Carlos da Maia (aka “Three Lamps”). – Photo: Ida Cheong
