The topic of the 20th anniversary of Macau’s handover accounted for half of yesterday’s interventions from lawmakers at the Legislative Assembly (AL) during the period before the agenda.
With the celebrations to be held later this week, several lawmakers dedicated their time to address this topic exclusively, making a review and comparison of Macau before and after the last 20 years.
Ip Sio Kai was the first to launch the topic, saying that with the handover, Macau had entered a new era of governance with high autonomy under the principles of “One Country, Two Systems” and “Macau governed by its people.”
This new situation contributed to the rapid development that transformed Macau “from a small, almost unknown city to a world tourism and leisure center,” the same lawmaker said, while adding that the gaming industry, “as a pillar has made major contributions to economic growth, but the risks of this single-industry-dependent model of economic growth are becoming increasingly complicated.”
For Ip, to solve such a problem, the new government should take the opportunities and roles provided by the central government to engage in providing financial services to companies in the Greater Bay Area, “by actively exploring cross-border financial cooperation.”
Such opportunities, stemming from growing need for financial services within the GBA, would also extend to people and families that are increasingly seeking to “work, buy a home, study and seek medical treatment in Mainland China.”
Such remarks were followed by the speech of Ma Chi Seng, addressing the plenary also in the name of Wu Chou Kit and Pang Chuan, who praised Macau’s development over the last 20 years.
In the words of the lawmakers, Macau is currently living through “the best period in its history.”
“From the early phase of the handover, when there was almost nothing [compared] to this day, we have had many examples of success in implementing the ‘One country, two systems’ principle,” Ma said, adding that the 20 successful years of Macau “will be undoubtedly marked in history as an important part of the great national renaissance.”
The lawmakers then listed all the major developments achieved by the previous and current government in five groups in which they included, among others, the government catering for the people through wealth distribution and talent training, as well as people’s resilience in the overcoming of crisis and natural catastrophes.
“The social security system, housing, health, education, talent training, and disaster prevention and reduction, [established by the successive governments] left residents happy and with a full sense of belonging to society, a phenomenon that was not recorded before the handover,” Ma said.
The lawmakers also praised the economic growth of the region, with per capita gross domestic product now the second-highest worldwide.
The lawmakers concluded, “the policy of adequate diversification of industries has had effects; and a diversified cultural exchange base is gradually being promoted within the ‘One Center, One Platform’ strategy, all of which forms the basis for long-term economic development.”
Lawmaker Zheng Anting also noted the economic achievements and “great improvements” in general in the region after the handover, but contrary to others, he did not forget to mention “several existing social problems” that come as some of the bigger challenges and responsibilities for the upcoming government of Ho Iat Seng.
Noting that there is still room for improvement, Zheng remarked on the low efficiency of the administration and the conflict or lack of synergy among the different government departments.
With the Light Rapid Transit as the main focus of her speech, lawmaker Agnes Lam also noted the celebratory date, praising, above all, the attitude of the leaders over the last 20 years when compared to the ones before them.
“The attitude of the leaders improved significantly, compared to 20 years ago. This evaluation shows that the government has implemented its actions effectively. But although recognizing the political merit of the government, the people of Macau hope that the problems accumulated over the years will be resolved.”
Sulu Sou disagrees
Lawmaker Sulu Sou took the opposite view.
The lawmaker took the opportunity yesterday to criticize the jumping to conclusions about a process that is far from being concluded.
“Twenty years after the establishment of the MSAR, the implementation of the ‘One Country, Two Systems, Macau governed by its people and high autonomy’ should still be underway. However, it seems that the central government has already drawn a conclusion […] that the implementation has been successful.”
In Sou’s opinion, this fact has generated “a wave of the local political and business sectors taking every political occasion or public activity to perform this political mission on stage,” and yet it is an unconvincing performance.
According to the same lawmaker, this method of selling the virtues of Macau in prejudice of other places, like the neighboring region of Hong Kong, is not even a novelty, since it started “in the era of Tung Chee-hwa, and has now become more clear after the umbrella and anti-extradition movements,” he said. Tung was the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong.
Sou criticized this way of “showing the world the success of Macau as the good pupil,” making use of the region as an “instrument, not a protagonist” to show that the same is possible to be achieved in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The lawmaker remarked that, contrary to such political messages, what happens in reality is, “Macau people have a very limited voice, as they are only informed when plans are already in place. This was done with the role of building a world tourism and leisure center, in establishing the cooperation platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries, and in the event of the opening of a stock exchange.”
Sou added that such fact is due to a sense of self-censorship instilled in the local community.
For the lawmaker, the government’s annual distribution of money has been working as a remedy to patch up real problems and to convey an image of prosperity, which the people, in general, are not actually enjoying.
Also contrary to what was said previously by the other lawmakers, Sou listed several major concerns and ambitions of the local population, adding that after 20 years of governance, very little of what was promised has been achieved.
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