Hong Kong and Macau_ City Guide (Lonely Planet, 14th Edition) - Andrew Stone [241]
The basic law for Macau differed from its Hong Kong equivalent in that holders of foreign passports were not excluded from holding high-level posts in the post-handover administration (apart from the position of chief executive). There was also no stipulation that China would station troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Macau after the return of the territory to China, though it did just that.
Macau had directly elected some of the members of its Legislative Assembly since the assembly’s founding in 1976, but unlike Hong Kong it did not rush through proposals to widen the franchise or speed up democratisation at the last minute. The existing legislature continued to serve throughout the handover, unlike that in the British territory.
But not everything went so smoothly. Macau residents were pleased when Portugal gave everyone born in Macau the right to a Portuguese passport, allowing them to live anywhere in the EU – something the UK had refused Hong Kong Chinese people. However, not everyone in Macau benefited from Portugal’s move. Until 1975 any Chinese refugee reaching Macau could obtain residency. As a result, as much as 70% of the population had not actually been born in Macau and therefore didn’t qualify for Portuguese citizenship.
The years 1996 to 1998 were a grim showdown for Macau and its all-important tourism industry – an escalating number of gangland killings took place. Some 40 people were killed as senior Triad leaders jostled for control of the lucrative gambling rackets, and one international hotel was raked with AK-47 gunfire. On 8 May 1998 alone, 14 cars and motorcycles and a couple of shops were engulfed in flames when Triad members, protesting the arrest of their boss, Wan Kwok ‘Broken Tooth’ Koi, let off a string of firebombs. The violence scared tourists off in a big way; arrivals fell by some 36% in August 1997.
As the handover approached, China put pressure on Portugal to clean up its act. The government issued a new anti-Triad law calling for a lengthy prison term for anyone found to be a senior leader. Koi was arrested and sentenced to 15 years, and many other Triad members fled overseas.
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The Handover & Macau after 1999
The handover ceremony on 20 December 1999 was as stage-managed as the one held 2½ years earlier in Hong Kong. The following day 500 PLA soldiers drove down from Zhuhai. There are now an estimated 10,000 troops stationed here, though they are not responsible for internal security.
The most significant change since 1999 has been the liberalisation of casino licences in 2001, when the rule of Stanley Ho, previously Macau’s sole casino magnate, came to an end. Following an invasion of mostly American casinos, in 2006 Macau supplanted Las Vegas as the world’s gambling capital, bringing about a drastic socio-economic shift. The casino industry is now the primary driver of economic activity (see Click here). Demand for service labour in the expanding casino industry initially caused a labour shortage – and associated degradation of services – across many sectors elsewhere in Macau. Unfortunately, the boom didn’t benefit some local workers, as developers usually hired cheap illegal labourers for construction. A labour protest on May Day in 2007 that resulted in brutal police suppression reflected the undercurrents of dissatisfaction in the city.
Recently, though, the boom has stalled. The global credit crisis and travel restrictions imposed by China to mainland visitors in 2008 have dealt a double blow to Macau’s economy, knocking it off track from its galloping growth.
The casino boom also had a corrupting influence on the city. The notorious Ao Man Long graft scandal, in which the former transportation minister was convicted of taking 800 million patacas in bribes from a number of public-works projects, is believed to be just the tip of the iceberg.
Macau’s image has been further tarnished by the enactment of the controversial national security legislation and the barring of democratic activists and politicians from entering the territory,