Member of Macau’s Parliament José Pereira Coutinho said in an interview with Lusa that he has doubts about whether there would continue to be job opportunities in the territory for the Portuguese, as happened in the past.
“Nothing has changed in terms of the policy of the Portuguese coming here to work,” he said. But, “will there be jobs for the Portuguese to come to Macau?” he asked, “That is the big question”.
At stake is the economic crisis, triggered by pandemic restrictions in a territory that follows Beijing’s zero-Covid policy, and the departure of qualified Portuguese staff, who are not replaced by others from Portugal. Still, by local staff or from within China, he noted.
“I am concerned (…) the coming of, for example, more specialist doctors, more lawyers, more public prosecutors, more judges to Macau,” he explained.
“When I see in the Official Gazette the departure of one or another of these people who are contributing with their area of expertise in these areas, and they are not replaced, then it hurts me because it is one less, one more loss,” he lamented.
Even so, the former councillor for Portuguese communities and the only Portuguese member of the Legislative Assembly highlighted the “excellent work” of the “government of Portugal, particularly the consul-general” in this area, “saying that Portugal has qualified staff to make these contributions”.
He looked favourably at the cooperation protocols signed between Portugal and Macau in education, particularly in higher education. However, there is still “concern when vacancies are not filled with Portuguese teachers” in the territory, which has seen a rise in the unemployment rate, with many members of parliament, associations and the authorities advocating a priority policy of hiring local staff.
Pereira Coutinho maintained that, for this reason, “some work has to be done behind the scenes” and that “this work is the responsibility of the authorities (…) of Portugal, delegates, consul-general, and also the councillors of the Portuguese community, who are doing excellent work”.
The MP said he was convinced that the pandemic rules would not last forever and that this would, therefore, not be the fact that would determine the abandonment of the territory in the future. “But I see it from another perspective: whether employment opportunities will continue to exist as in the past. There I am very concerned when people are not being replaced in the areas I have just mentioned”, he emphasised.
“When a Portuguese person leaves, it is clear that they are not careful enough to replace them with another Portuguese person, to make a difference,” a reality that runs the risk of making Macau just another city in the interior of China, he warned, without safeguarding the differentiating status of multiculturalism.
“This human heritage has to be maintained, and this is where we are getting a little worried because I don’t know if it is sloppiness or because there is a great demand to fill vacancies in the civil service. In Macau, everyone wants to work in the civil service. And now even more because the revenue from casinos is decreasing,” he said.
Despite being convinced that the pandemic restrictions would soon be changed and that compulsory quarantine in hotels would be eliminated, which he has been advocating in parliament, the MP acknowledged that the prevention policy has contributed to some unease in the community.
“There are so many Portuguese who have not seen their parents for years. Three years and something. They have elderly parents. [At] 80, 90 years old. They have children in European universities with whom they have no personal contact,” he stressed.
“All this adds up to some people feeling psychological effects, especially those who look at the television and see the whole world returning to normality,” he summed up before saying, “it is a pity that this pandemic has not facilitated the departure of our competent authorities in the various areas. They haven’t gone abroad. I hope they go to see the [football] World Cup. Nobody wears masks, and we are still in the street”.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Macau has recorded six deaths and just over 2,800 cases, the vast majority asymptomatic.
As in mainland China, the authorities are committed to a zero-Covid policy, based on the imposition of quarantines on arrival in the territory, massive testing of the population and confinements.
