Have Guts
Have Guts
People ask me when these two words started.
I think it was that evening in 2009 — our Civic Watch candidates sat down together for the first time and told each other our stories.
votes · lost
I told my story: a vegetable farmer's daughter who earned her own tuition, put her siblings through university, and eventually became a professor herself. The others shared theirs. Jiran, who was there that night, later wrote: he finally understood why we made “Have Guts” our campaign spirit — because these people already were people with guts.
Southern Metropolis Daily called me a “triple-zero candidate” that year — no business vote source, no association network, no clear class identity. In Macau's society of associations, having none of that means you have to invent a different language of mobilization.
Our language was two words.
“If there’s no stage, build one. If the stage is taken, fight for it.”
Not enough. But I said: “I’ll keep running. This is a long revolution.”
Sources：ifeng.com · Jiran’s Blog
votes · lost again
“Keep having guts. Have guts, have a way out.”
Still not enough. But by then, “Have Guts” was no longer just a campaign slogan. It had become the team’s character.
votes · elected
Eight years earlier, the first time I handed out policy booklets on the street, I had to walk back after every block to pick up the ones people had thrown on the ground.
In 2017, people came up asking for the thick booklet to take home and read.
Eight years.
Source：“The Road Is Walked Out”
Some say “Have Guts” was a narrative strategy. I won't deny it — from 2009 on, we told this story deliberately.
But my mother really did sell vegetables. I really did earn my own tuition. I really did keep coming back. None of that was made up.
Inside the legislature, two words weren't enough. You need policy proposals, research reports, inquiry data. “Have Guts” had to be translated into “professional.” That's not betrayal. That's growing up.
I still have guts. Just about different things now.