Bashar Assad, Syrian Elections, and Lutong Macau

When we were children in the Philippines, we used the term, "Lutong Macau" when someone rigged a game to cheat us. "Lutong Macau!" we used to exclaim. By saying that, we not only called the person a cheater, but we also ridiculed him or her. The term "Lutong Macau" has a strong undertone of derision.

I had not used that term for decades and I was surprised when the words, "Lutong Macao" whipped through my mind after reading that Bashar al-Assad's won the presidential elections in Syria by an 88% landslide.


Eighty-eight percent - wow!  That's a fantastic figure. I have to give him credit, however, because it's lower than the 97.62% he got in the 2007 presidential referendum. Someone must have whispered to Assad that 90% and higher are over-the-top figures in places where people are actually free to choose their leaders.

But 88% is still a remarkable figure. Obviously people who are unfamiliar with real democracy don't realize that; they're just anxious to give some kind of validity to what they have stolen.

Going back to Lutong Macau - what exactly does Lutong Macau mean?

The word "Lutong" means "cooking."

The second word "Macau" refers to the Chinese territory that used to be a colony of Portugal.

The two words together literally mean "Macau cooking" or "Macau food" -- but what the phrase really means is "rigged," or "predetermined," or "arranged."

Some people have suggested that the origin of the phrase has to do with Macau's notoriety for gambling, and thus the people or dealings from Macau are considered shady. Things prepared the Macao way, or Lutong Macau are rigged.

That's why those two words came to me when I heard of  Assad's 88% victory in Syria.

This is all for now, dear Readers. Have a great weekend.

That's me as a child, clutching my doll. Maybe I was this old when I first used the term "Lutong Macau."

Read also:
Muslims Condemn ISIS
The Dictator's Dilemma: To Win with 95% or 99?
Syria War: A Layperson's View of Assad's Comeback
Syrian Revolutionary Poem & Destruction of Khalid bin Walid Mosque
Syria - Bashar al-Assad's Victory "Mine! Mine! All Mine!"

tags: Assad, Syrian, Syrian, elections, Lutong Macau, war, revolution, Middle East

Cecilia