Gov’t proposes changes to internal security force laws

The security force has proposed to abolish the separation between militarized and non-militarized divisions, specifically for the member departments included in the internal security force.
The Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL) held a second meeting to discuss, article by article, the Macau SAR’s internal security bill yesterday.
Chairman of the committee Chan Chak Mo reported on the meeting after it ended. According to Chan, members of the committee raised questions regarding the article proposing that, within the internal security force, there be no separated definitions for militarized departments and security departments.
Citing the government representatives’ reply, Chan said that, currently, Macau’s internal security unit consists of ten government departments, including eight from the Macau Security Force, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Marine and Water Bureau.
“Besides the aviation authority and the water and marine authority, all the rest [of the] departments will be addressed as either security force or security department. The old structure divides [the departments] into militarized teams and the security departments,” Chan said.
As to whether the law will be republished due to the changes, Chan indicated that it is improbable.
Since the government removed the classification of militarized forces, all departments within the internal security structure will be collectively referred to as public institutions that make up the internal security system.
Citing government representatives, Chan said that because there are only a few amendments to the articles, it is temporarily unsuitable for republication. Once both the government’s legal advisors and AL’s legal advisors finish deciding the wording, and when the government submits the new version of the law text, the committee will have another meeting to discuss the articles.
In order to cope with the reform of the civil defense system and the security forces’ personnel system, the SAR government amended the current Macau internal security law and adjusted the organizational and operational requirements of the internal security system of Macau accordingly to ensure that the law has a guiding effect upon the city’s internal security work.
The main contents of the bill include updates to the names of the Civil Aviation Authority, Port Authority of Macau, the Municipal Affairs Bureau, the Macau Prisons, and the names of relevant departments, entities and their leading bodies.
The bill proposes that if the severity of an internal security threat necessitates the use of a joint operation of multiple entities, the Chief Executive can initiate a joint operation and the Secretary for Security shall serve as the commander of the operation unless otherwise specified.