The Portuguese-speaking delegates to Forum Macau lost their right to the Resident Identity Card (BIR), pursuant to Law No. 16/2021, which regulates stay and residence permits. More than a document, they lose their rights and standard of living; without subsidies, without discounts for their children’s school, without free access to health services… they change their bank account profile, spend hours at the border explaining who they are and what they do… authorizes them to live here
The Portuguese-speaking delegates to the Macau Forum lost their right to the Resident Identity Card (BIR), pursuant to Law No. 16/2021, which regulates stay and residence permits. More than a document, they lose their rights and standard of living; without subsidies, without discounts for their children’s school, without free access to health services… they change their bank account profile, spend hours at the border explaining who they are and what they do… authorizes them to live here
There was no diplomatic communication, prior negotiation, nor any compensatory arrangement. And no one speaks; the matter is “under lock and key”, but “the discomfort is enormous and the tension is widespread among everyone”, explains an anonymous source. Although the law is from last year, the delegates only realized its consequences when two new colleagues arrived. As they had valid documents, they were never faced with the blockade that would later appear to their renewal.
PLATAFORMA found that the reaction of the delegates was organized collectively, having first requested the intervention of the Permanent Secretariat of the Forum, in the sense that the Chinese side, which leads the body, mediate the case with the local authorities. However, the heads appointed by the Ministry of Commerce understood that they did not have formal legitimacy to intervene, as it was a “decision of the exclusive competence of the Macau authorities”. The cadres appointed by Macau claimed “to know nothing” and “to be able to do nothing”.
HELP REQUESTS
The Support Office then formally requested a meeting with the Police Immigration Services, as well as the intervention of the Secretary for the Economy and Finance, Lei Wai Nong. This round – and the hope – ends formally by a letter from the Secretary for Security’s chief of staff…
On 21 July, Cheong Ioc Ieng explained in response to the request for clarification from the Macau Forum Support Office, addressed to the Chief of Staff of the Secretary for Economy and Finance:
“Regarding the proposal made by the Support Office at the meeting that the aforementioned treatment be applicable only to newly arrived delegates, under the terms of Law No. there is no legal basis for continuing to approve the residence permit for delegates from Portuguese-speaking countries”.
That is, having rights that they considered acquired – with the political muscle of the Ministerial Conference and the action plans – since 2003 – which assigned them three years of BIR, renewable for another three, the delegates still tried to have the new provision applied only to those who were recently appointed, after the entry into force of the new law. Claim outright denied.
In the letter from the chief of staff of Wong Sio Chak, to which PLATAFORMA had access, all the consequences are clarified:
“Furthermore, I would like to inform the Support Office that with the entry into force of the aforementioned law, the contents provided for in nº.2, article 6º. of the rules of procedure of the Permanent Secretariat of the Forum, as well as in point IV, in the living conditions, indicated in subparagraph b, of no. 1 of the same regulation, are incompatible with the provisions laid down in the law”.
In practice, what happened to the two new delegates, appointed by Angola and Guinea-Bissau, was that they accepted the positions based on the assumption that conditions would be the same as those of their predecessors, having only been confronted here with the new reality. It was then clear to all those who were here that they would also have to deliver the BIR as soon as its expiration date had expired – without the right to renewal they had been counting on.
And they are all doing it, with the exception of one case, for having a permanent BIR, since he was already residing in Macau long before his appointment to the Forum.
DIPLOMATIC ETHICS
The personal consequences are obvious: BIR holders are entitled to living allowances, consumer cards, discounts at their children’s school, access to healthcare, facilitated bureaucracy at borders, etc…
In a large family, since the BIR was assigned to the entire household, the consequences in terms of income are significant. Just to give the example of the Portuguese School of Macau, each child will usually have a cost three times higher than they had.
Furthermore, emphasizes a diplomatic source to PLATAFORMA, there is the political question: “No representative of a Portuguese-speaking country will certainly be against compliance with the law. But there are ways of doing these things and diplomatic ethics; using diplomatic channels that must be notified in an institutional way; not to mention compensatory measures that can be negotiated”.
Another “sensitive” issue, clarifies the same source, always on condition of anonymity, is “the respect due to senior officials, with diplomatic passports, invited by China to reside in Macau, fulfilling a strategic purpose that supposedly interests everyone… a treatment, if not exceptional, at least careful; I don’t know what I deserve.”
EXCEPTION… AND CONSEQUENCES
Wong Sio Chak enforces the law. And the legal reflection appears in an assumed and grounded way in the letter signed by its chief of staff. Interestingly, this same law allows the Chief Executive to attribute the BIR, in an exceptional way, to senior executives especially relevant to Macau, as in other cases.
However, at this particular moment in the life of the Region, Ho Iat Seng did not consider this hypothesis – if he was faced with it – a hypothesis that was not possible to ascertain until the close of this edition.
In diplomatic circles contacted by PLATAFORMA, the issue is having a political impact, although there are no public reactions.
On the one hand, given the traditional discretion with which the most sensitive matters are dealt with; on the other hand, because there are State interests that do not want to harm with public positions.
The PLATAFORMA can, however, confirm that the Portuguese-speaking ambassadors in Beijing are already aware of the tension currently being experienced at Forum Macau.
In fact, in a context in which the withdrawal of BIRs “is just another case”, with “more serious issues that must be reviewed”, warns a knowledgeable source of “a series of constraints that are not only due to the difficult circumstances of the economic crisis and pandemic”. In any case, “there are minimums”, he concludes:
“The delegates represent their countries, have diplomatic passports, and are invited by China. They can’t walk down the street with a little paper in their passport. They didn’t even get a Blue Card!”.
