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This is the period between 15 January
1988 and 19 December 1999, ie the start of official effect of the
Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration until the last day of Portuguese rule
over Macau. During the period, preparation works are done and conditions
are created for successfully implementing the Joint Declaration, thus
ensuring the smooth transfer of Macau territory.
Two structures were established for this purpose. They are the Sino-Portuguese Joint Liaision Group and the Sino-Portuguese Land Group. Both Groups were formed on 15 January 1988. The Joint Liaison Group is a structure for discussions of: 1. the implementation of the Joint Declaration and its annexes, of the handover in 1999; 2. the maintenance and development of the Macau SAR in terms of economy and culture, etc, with the outside world, and; 3. other affairs involving the two countries regarding Macau. The Group started its work in April 1988. In the first year, meetings were held in Beijing, Lisbon and Macau in turns, afterwards, the Group was stationed in Macau. The Group had ceased to function on 1 January 2000. Unless agreed by both sides, the work of the Group is confidential. The Group consists of 10 members, 5 from the either side with the Head of the Group who has the status of Ambassador. Members of the Group enjoy diplomatic privilege and exclusions. The Land Group is a structure which processes affairs regarding land leases and its related matters. It consists of three members from the either sides, enjoying diplomatic privilege and exclusions. The Group, stationed in Macau, ceased operation on 19 December 1999. The organisation and work of Group are discussed by both countries in accordance with rules. Problems which cannot be resolved within the Group are to be resolved between the Chinese and Portuguese Governments through negotiations. Three Major Problems during the Transition They are the implentation of Chinese as the official language, localisation of the Civil Service, and the localisation of laws. Chinese as the Official Language Chinese language did not have its legal status for a long period of Portugese rule over Macau. Portuguese language was the only official language. Such a situation had caused serious problems of communications between the administration and the residents, of which 95% are Chinese. Also, the rise of position of Chinese residents in the Civil Service necessitated to make Chinese as an official language to improve communications. On the other hand, however, a majority of medium to high-ranking officials in Macau was Portuguese or Macanese. Those who can write Chinese remained very few. Professional interpreters within the government and the society were very scarce, thus causing great difficulties on establishing Chinese language as an official language. Chinese language became the official language in February 1991, when Foreign Ministers of China and Portugal made an agreement in Lisbon. The Portuguese National Decree No. 455/91 was proclaimed on 31 December 1991 and came into effect in February 1992. However, from 1987, the Portuguese-Macau Government had implemented measures to allow wider use of Chinese language within the public administration. Every year, some civil servants and residents were chosen to learn Portuguese in Portugal and Chinese in Beijing, with government expenses. Locally, courses were held for civil servants to learn Chinese or Portuguese. Official forms, identification documents and important laws and regulations were using both Chinese and Portuguese languages in steps. Since 1992, decrees, laws and regulations published in the Official Bulletin were published in both languages. From 1995 onwards, all decrees, laws and regulations were published on the same page in the Bulletin. Immediate interpretation was started to use in Courts for criminal cases from June 1994, and expanded to civil cases from February 1995. However, the use of the Chinese language within the administration needs to be standardised. Localisation of the Civil Service In 1992, there were 15,111 public servants in Macau, from which 1,657 were born in Portugal, 8,786 were born in Macau, 3,483 were born in China, 224 were born in Hong Kong, 328 were born in former Portuguese colonies, and 633 were born in other countries. However, a majority of local residents within the Civil Service was working in low-rank positions. Nearly all leadership of departments, offices, secretaries were Portuguese, with only one or two Chinese. Also, most civil workers who were born in Macau were Mancanese. Therefore, it is urgently necessary to localise the Civil Service in order to let sufficient amount of Chinese with experience are working for the future administration of Macau SAR. In 1993, general guidelines were issued by General Vasco Rocha Vieira, the Governor of Macau, on the localisation of the Civil Service. Before that, the Portuguese-Macau Government set forth a plan to let public servants in Macau to choose to work for the Portuguese Government in future, if their Portuguese language skills fulfills the Grade 6 standard of the Portuguese syllabus and that they have Portuguese passports. The scheme was declared in 1993 by the Portuguese Government. Those public servants who fulfilled the requirements decided on 25 May 1995 if they preferred to be included into the Portuguese Civil Service personnel, or stay within the Macau Civil Service personnel, or to choose redundancy, or to choose early retirement. There were 5,443 qualified public servants in the scheme. Only 418 people preferred to be included within the Portuguese Civil Service personnel, 756 chose for redundancy, 459 chose for early retirement, and the remaining 3,810 stayed to serve the future Macau SAR Government. This created a favourable conditions for catalysing the localisation of the Civil Service. According to a press release from the Portuguese-Macau Government, the localisation of the Civil Service was completed in February 1999. It claimed that the overall localisation of staffing in Macau's Administration was over 96.3%. The remaining would be gradually phased out in 1999. However, there is a fundamental difference on the definition of 'local residents' between Portugal and China. Portugal thinks that apart from Chinese, all Macanese and those Portuguese who have settled in Macau are also regarded as 'local residents'; while China thinks that this should be those who have knowledge of Chinese language or those whose first language is Chinese. The proportion of Chinese officials should be increased, in order to reflect the fact that the extreme majority of Macau residents are Chinese. However, within the 37 directorates of the Services, only 13 of them are local residents, and just 7 of them are Chinese. Beijing thinks that Lisbon is only playing a game of numbers on this issue. The quality of the localised public servants is also a major concern for the future Macau SAR Government. Edmund Ho, the Chief Executive of Macau SAR designate, admitted that it was difficult for him to appoint new secretaries, which the original ones appointed by Portugal who could only work until 19 December 1999 and were not able to stay through to the new SAR Government. Localisation of Laws This means the categorisation, amendments, translations and transfer of the existing Portuguese-Macau Laws into the future legal system of Macau SAR. This also means the localisation of the judicial personnel. The Portuguese-Macau legal system consisted of two major parts. One was the Laws of Portugal which were quoted to Macau for local effect, such as the Criminal Code, Civil Code, Commercial Code, etc. The other was the laws and regulations drafted and passed by the Legislative Assembly of Portuguese-Macau and the Governor in accordance with the Portuguese Constitution and the Macau Organic Statute. Also, there were some laws which quoted the Civil Law of the Republic of China and Hong Kong, especially in commercial aspects. The variety of the legal forms in Macau had caused great confusions. All laws quoted from Portugal did not have Chinese versions. Some were even quoted in the 19th century. Also, laws from the legislature of Portuguese-Macau did not have Chinese versions neither. Some even required amendments as a result of the developing situation in Macau. Laws quoted from the Republic of China and Hong Kong had to be processed with discretion. In 1988, the Portuguese-Macau Government established the Legal Translation Office, responsible for this heavy task. Meanwhile, bi-lingual legal professionals were trained by sending them to Portugal to learn Law. The University of Macau opened degree courses in Portuguese-language Law and Portuguese Translation. After analysis, only 255 types of laws out of 1,700 laws quoted from Portugal can be remained for use after the handover. The systemisation of the Portuguese-Macau Laws was finished in mid-1995. All major Portuguese Laws and Codes had been finished their translations in early 1999. However, there is still lack of bi-lingual legal professionals who have enough experience. Recent statistics shows that not many of the current judges are good at both Chinese and Portuguese, but many of them have very good Portuguese language skills. |
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