Wong wants to create department for national security matters

Wong Sio Chak (center), administers the swearing-in ceremony of the new director of the Public Security Forces Affairs Bureau, Kok Fong Mei

Local authorities intend to establish a new public department to tackle state security matters, Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak revealed yesterday.

On the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony for the director of the Public Security Forces Affairs Bureau, Wong explained to the media that since 2009, back when Macau began enacting the National Security Law, there has been an absence of supplementary regulations to implement it successfully.

“Actually, the establishing of a specialized organization is needed [to handle national security matters]. The same happens around the world regarding national security, [which] not only needs a law, but also needs a specialized organization to implement it. Since state security works are very important, professional and special, having such an organization to carry out related work is reasonable,” said Wong, who noted that the state already has a committee responsible for matters of this nature.

“Whether Macau also needs to establish a similar organization to conduct decision-making processes concerning state security, […] is actually the problem we are facing, as well as the entire society,” declared Wong. “Each resident should think about how to better perform law enforcement works.”

“It will not necessarily become a bureau level department. We will announce [the information to the public] at due time. Whether it will become an independent bureau or a divisional department has not been decided yet,” said Wong.

As for whether the prosecution authority will be the final department handling these related cases, the Secretary affirmed that the Public Prosecution Office (MP) remains as the only supervision and investigation department.

“Even if we establish a specialized investigation organization, our cases will eventually be delivered to the MP,” Wong noted.

When questioned by the Times if potential future demonstrations organized by the public will be deemed a violation of the state security law, Wong explained that the security force always implements the law according to its own regulations.

“It abides by the regulations. It’s not like we implement the law the way we want it to be implemented,” said Wong.

According to Wong, information about state security cases will be reported to the public, as well as information about other police force cases.

“Macau’s crime investigation unfolds similarly to the whole world,” said Wong, adding that the investigation and prosecution “must be open” at certain stages.

In addition, Wong indicated that the state security law will not affect the implementation of Macau’s internal security law, and further noted that it will also not be responsible for an increase in the number of people denied entry to Macau.

In 2009, the first version of the state security law covered seven crimes.

Wong denied speaking about whether a new crime definition will be added.

Zheng: ‘mechanism has to be optimized’

IN 2009, Macau passed the National Security Law, however there is no legislative detail regarding enforcement procedures or which bodies should be responsible for enforcing the law. On Sunday, the director of the Liaison Office Zheng Xiaosong called for a stronger mechanism to safeguard national security. “The execution mechanism still has to be optimized. The leading mechanism of the national security task needs to be strengthened,” he told the press.