Chinese top legislator’s ‘three hopes’ for Macau

Macau Daily Times
Chinese top legislator’s ‘three hopes’ for Macau
07/12/2009 00:17:00


Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), Wu Bangguo,
said Macau should “fully strengthen the concept of the rule of law, pay great efforts to intensify system building, as well as enhance the ruling capability in line with the law”.

The top legislator of the People’s Republic of China made the remark in his speech given in the symposium on the Macau Basic Law in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People last Friday.

China’s Vice President Xi Jinping and other prominent Chinese officials, and also Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah, CPPCC Standing Committee member and ex-Legislative Assembly president Susana Chou, and president of the Court of Final Appeal Sam Hou Fai were among the Macau official delegation to take part in the one-day symposium.

According to Mr Wu, the Macau Chief Executive and the SAR government must continue to “unite all Macau people for the pursuit of stability, development, prosperity and harmony in society”.

As the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Macau SAR is fast approaching, Mr Wu said during the past decade the implementation of the ‘once country, two systems’ policy and the Macau Basic Law was a success, which proved that “they meet the condition of China and the reality of Macau”.

The top legislator also mentioned about his “three hopes” for Macau, of which the first one was to reinforce the concept of the rule of law comprehensively.

He said that the Basic Law was the legal basis of the ‘one country, two systems’ policy, the legal protection for Macau’s long-term prosperity and stability, and also the cornerstone for the governance in Macau.

He said that Macau should further strengthen publicity of the Basic Law through various forms in the public so that the social foundation for the implementation of the law could “keep on being consolidated and developed”.

“At the same time, studies on the Basic Law also have to be enhanced in a bid to summarise good experiences and practices and also find solutions to deal with new situations and problems,” Mr Wu added.

Secondly, Mr Wu said the SAR needed to greatly strengthen the building of systems, adding the full implementation of the ‘one country, two systems’ policy and the Basic Law would not only require specific systems but also enhancement of various existing systems.

“The Macau SAR should place system building in a prominent position and handle it as an important task so as to set up specific systems for different affairs within the scope of high autonomy as soon as possible,” the NPCSC chairman told the symposium.

However, Mr Wu stressed that system building must have to be based on the Basic Law and all systems of Macau shall never violate the same law.

As for affairs involving the management of the central government and the relationships between the State Council and the Special Administrative Regions, a report was needed to be made to the central government and approvals must also have to be obtained from them.

“The systems need to fully promote democracy, be rational and pragmatic and also acquire a broad consensus so that they can meet the actual situations of Macau and are practicable,” Mr Wu pointed out.

As for the third “hope”, the NPCSC head said that to enhance the governance capability in line with the law was necessary.

He pointed out that the administrative, legislative and judicial bodies of the SAR “shoulder great responsibilities to ensure the correct implementation of the Basic Law and safeguard the stable development of Macau”, and therefore they had to “work strictly according to the Basic Law and pay efforts to upgrade their ruling capability”.

Meanwhile, the top legislature of China told the symposium attention should also be paid to civil servants, who would need to have their quality enhanced, be familiar with, comply with and also safeguard the Basic Law, as well as contribute their wisdom to Macau.

“The civil servants have to at the same time adapt to the public’s new expectations and the new needs for Macau’s development, seriously look for solutions to tackle in-depth contradictions and problems, deal with demands from various areas well, continuously enhance scientific and democratic decision making standards, promote sustainable economic development and overall social progress in Macau,” Mr Wu added.