The Macau Special Administrative Region has reached its 26th anniversary in a very different context from that which marked the initial period of transition. The time of institutional consolidation, political stability, and accelerated economic growth is behind us. Macau is today a mature region, with consolidated structures, but also with more complex challenges, less tolerant of simple answers and increasingly demanding in terms of strategic vision.
For more than two decades, the MSAR has benefited from a rare stability in the region, sustained by the principle of “One Country, Two Systems,” predictable governance, and a highly profitable economic model. This path has allowed it to accumulate financial reserves, improve infrastructure, and significantly raise the average standard of living of the population. This legacy is undeniable and must be recognized.
An institutional configuration where the Executive assumes a clearly dominant role places even greater responsibility on those who govern.
But anniversaries serve, above all, for assessments. And the assessment of these 26 years also reveals persistent weaknesses. Excessive dependence on a single sector, the difficulty of diversifying the economy, the slow adaptation of the productive fabric, and the perceived disconnect between political decisions and the daily concerns of residents continue to mark the public debate.
The new political cycle, with an administration more aligned with central power and an institutional configuration where the Executive assumes a clearly dominant role, places even greater responsibility on those who govern.
Celebrating 26 years of the Macau SAR should not only be an exercise in recalling the past, but a moment to reaffirm commitments. Commitment to a more resilient economy, to fairer and more judicious public policies, to an administration with a long-term vision that prepares Macau for an increasingly competitive and uncertain regional and global context.
Macau is at a point of choice. Between the comfortable management of the present and the demanding construction of the future. Between immediate solutions and structural reforms. Between automatic continuity and the capacity for adaptation. At 26 years old, the Macau SAR is no longer young. It is an adult. And like any adult structure, you will be judged less by your intentions and more by the decisions you make now.
*Editor-in-chief of PLATAFORMA
