Enlarge newspaper　　　　Macau Post Daily     May 7, 2007

5,400 students pledge 'not to give in to gambling'

Monica Leong

5,400 students’ signatures were collected within a week by the Shining Life Movement Association as their formal commitment not to give in to gambling. The signatures were handed to the Education and Youth Affaires Bureau (DSEJ) last Friday at the opening ceremony of the “Shining Life Movement” launched by the Pui Ching Middle School.

The movement, jointly organized by several Protestant denominations and supported by the DSEJ, aims to provide a healthy environment for young people to be brought up in while Macau is experiencing fast growth in the gaming industry, a situation that, according to the movement’s organizers, has resulted in a rising number of social and family problems.

Pastor David Wong Dai Wai, the organiser of the movement, said that while for many people social values had become “blurred.” light was needed to show young people the right direction in life. “If there’s light in people’s life, there is light in society,” the pastor said, adding that “the light from your life will light up your family’s and friends’ lives.”

The principal of the Macau Baptist College, Lei Cheok Kin, said, “In Macau’s post-modern society, people’s ideas about [social] values have become blurred, and what used to be wrong is now accepted by everyone, such as gambling,” adding that “nowadays, young people only care about how much they can earn and not about where their life is leading them.”

Chui Weng Chun, a university student, told the gathering that recently casinos could be found near every local university, this was not a good leaning environment for students, and due to the attractive salaries earned by dealers and croupiers, it was tempting for students to leave university before graduating to work in a casino, “After they begin working in a casino, they will slowly start to like the idea of gambling because of all the thrill and the money,” he said.

The student posed a number of questions to the about 300 secondary school students who attended the ceremony, “Who can actually earn money from gambling? Who actually wins in gambling? Who can rely on their lives on gambling?”

On the other hand, Mr. Lei Chong Ping, a parent representative, said that although “we cannot change what is happening in the gaming industry, we, as parents, can set ourselves as good examples for our children . We can only expect our children to grow up in a healthy society when we give them a good healthy family environment.”

A secondary school student from the Pui Ching Middle School urged his peers not to gamble by warning them “the next person jumping off a casino lobby could be you”.