Macau handover end of colonial era
By Andreas Landwehr
MACAU (DPA): After more than 400 years under Portuguese control, the tiny peninsula of Macau will revert to Chinese rule at midnight on Dec. 19. The return of Europe's oldest settlement to China will close the last chapter of Asia's colonial era.
Even if Communist Party propaganda hails the handover as the righting of a "national humiliation," Beijing and Lisbon have at least outwardly set the scene for a smooth transition.
As the digital handover clock in Beijing's Tiananmen Square ticks down to zero, there is little of the fear and uncertainty in Macau that gripped Hong Kong residents before the British territory changed hands on July 1, 1997.
Neither has there been the kind of bitter conflict over the degree of democracy that will be allowed in Macau post-handover which clouded Sino-British handover negotiations.
Macau's confidence in the future has been bolstered by what has so far proven to be a smooth handover in the nearby economic powerhouse. Despite a recent constitutional battle with Beijing, Hong Kongers' fears have largely failed to materialize.
Macau is a very different city in many important ways from its neighbor across the Pearl River Delta. Of the enclave's 431,000 residents, 95 percent are ethnic Chinese. Most have never considered China a threat and more than half moved to the territory from southern China in the mid-1980s.
"I am Chinese and I live in Macau," is an oft-spoken phrase. Shaped not so much by colonial domination as by a cross-cultural synergy, Macau has forged a unique identity which can be felt in both Chinese and Mediterranean lifestyles and its Eurasian inhabitants, called Macanese.
"Macau is a unique place; small, very vulnerable," said the last Portuguese Governor Vasco Rocha Vieira. He stressed the enclave is more than a gambling haven for Hong Kongers and other Asians but an "interface of cultures" and a "gateway to southern China".
"If it is not useful, it will be very difficult for small Macau to maintain its status," he said.
The governor praised the good cooperation and frank and open dialogue between Macau and China. He conceded that differences of opinion had emerged but said they had been settled quietly rather than dragged into the public arena.
Disagreements have arisen over the People's Liberation Army troops. China will move into the formerly ungarrisoned enclave at dawn on Dec. 20 as a symbol of its sovereignty.
As a show of displeasure, Portugal's President Jorge Sampaio and Macau's last governor will leave Macau in the pre-dawn hours just before the first soldier arrives at sunrise.
And despite an earlier agreement with Beijing, Lisbon in the end will play no part in appointing judges to the post-handover Court of Final Appeal. There also remains some uncertainty, as judicial sources point out, over accountability issues facing the future chief prosecutor.
Like Hong Kong, Macau will become a special administrative region of China, with its own borders, government and customs rights. The "one country, two systems" principle will be in force for 50 years.
But Governor Rocha Vieira worries where China will draw the line between protecting its sovereignty and guaranteeing Macau autonomy and its citizens their civil rights, including freedom of the press.
Jorge Rangel, the enclave's highest-ranking Macanese, whose family has lived in Macau for 250 years, appears highly confident of the future. But the uncertainties remain.
"How much China will interfere is an open question. So much depends on the new government in Macau," said Rangel, whose job as undersecretary for administration makes him Macau's second- highest ranking government official.
All agree that the next leader, Edmund Ho, shares Western values and enjoys the trust of both the people of Macau and the leaders in Beijing, Rangel said.
"China's national interest is always a priority," said Ho, a 44-year-old banker whose family has long held close ties with Beijing.
"A high degree of autonomy should never be understood to mean that you can ignore national interests. Otherwise it is not 'one country, two systems'," Ho said.
"Where to draw the line? You have to look at it case-by-case," he said.
As for Chinese troops, which can be called upon for relief operations during natural disasters or to safeguard social stability, Ho said: "I would not hesitate to ask for assistance if I believed the livelihood of Macau citizens was under such threat that I think local police would not be able to provide the type of protection that is necessary."
Demonstrations protesting China's bloody June 4, 1989 crackdown on the mainland pro-democracy movement will continue to be allowed if demonstrators first apply for permission, Ho said.
"There are certain political values that I don't share, but we have to go by the law," he said.
In reality, there is little chance Macau will turn into a hotbed of dissent. Political openness has never been encouraged by its previous rulers, said Ricardo Pinto, editor of the critical weekly newspaper Punto Final. "Political apathy reigns."
"Macau is not the place for demonstrations," Pinto said. "People don't care about politics. Most are just concerned about having a good life."
The majority of Macau residents are newly arrived and more worried about the recession and rising crime among feuding crime syndicates called triads than the advantages of liberal democracy, he said.
It is not a new concept that freedom has its limits in Macau. A decade ago, the elected parliamentarian Antonio Ng lost his post with the Bank of China after he organized demonstrations protesting the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Ng nevertheless remains a member of the legislative assembly comprised of eight elected members, eight delegates representing Macau's professional community and seven members appointed by the governor.
Macau's parliament will remain unchanged after the handover, but its current president, Anabela Ritchie, must step down. Under the new regime, residents who do not adopt Chinese citizenship will not be permitted to fill leadership posts in public office.