Policy Address | National security in spotlight sparking divergent opinions

National security was one of the topics that sparked debate and opinions from the lawmakers during the debate on the Policy Address 2021 (LAG2021) for the Secretariat of Security.
Many lawmakers raised questions and voiced their opinions and concerns on the topic, specifically on the need to update local laws and regulations on national security.
On one side, the pro-establishment lawmakers were calling for more laws and work. But on the other side, pro-democracy lawmakers were questioning the need to treat the matter as urgent and as a state of “imminent risk.” This “imminent risk” was mentioned previously by the Chief Executive (CE) and was used to justify the creation of the National Security Commission and four national security units, which started operating in October this year under the Judiciary Police (PJ) force.
Replying to both arguments, Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak sided with those calling for a revision of the National Security Law in Macau, claiming that “there must exist a homogeny on the laws” in force on the mainland as well as in the Special Administrative Regions of Macau and Hong Kong.
For Wong, national security, “is a duty and a task to be carried on by every Chinese citizen,” noting that the local government has “the obligation to do so.”
Wong also replied to lawmaker Sulu Sou, who was the most active voice airing concerns over the need to review the local laws to model those enforced in the neighboring region of Hong Kong.
“There are external forces that want to influence the government and the local politics, and there are anti-government parties from Hong Kong and especially from Taiwan, that come to Macau to try to exercise their influence,” Wong said, adding, “We have these cases all recorded, we know exactly who those people have contacted in Macau.”
He had also replied to Sou earlier, saying that the lack of application of the provisions of the current National Security Law in Macau during the 10-plus years of its existence proves that locally there is no high risk, despite what many people are trying to extrapolate. Wong said, “Regulating with homogeny does not mean that the application [of the law] will have the same consequences [as in Hong Kong], the same way that the low application of the law in the past does not mean it is unnecessary.” Wong added,
“We are evaluating risks of internal security especially regarding the events [that have] occurred in Hong Kong. We need to prevent the same parties from Hong Kong from coming to Macau and putting us at risk. Is it always better to prevent than to solve the problem, as to enforce remedy measures means that we were too late [in addressing the issue].”
In reply to lawmaker Lam Lon Wai, who directly called for the revision of the law, Wong expressed his agreeance with the idea but noted that the decision is one that the CE alone can make.
“Such an obligation [of promoting the law revision] is under the exclusive powers of the Chief Executive. Only he can decide when this should be done,” Wong said.
The National Security Law emerged as a topic of heated debate in the LAG2021. However the Secretariat of Security did not present any new policies or work, pursuing instead the continuation of their work started in previous years.

Disallowing June 4 vigil was mainly due to pandemic

When called by lawmaker Sulu Sou to explain why the gathering planned at Senado Square on June 4 this year did not receive the approval of the police authorities, Secretary Wong Sio Chak said that the timing in which it was to occur played a very important role.
“In June the pandemic was not yet stabilized. This was the main factor for the decision to not authorize the gathering. At the time we were appealing every day for people not to gather,” Wong said in an attempt to refute the idea Sou aired that the police authorities had hidden a political decision in the guise of a public health-related measure.