014/6
R D Clift Esq HK&GD
FCO
CONFIDENTIAL
Enter
BRITISH EMBASSY
LISBON
12
RCNTD & PORNTRY NO. 51
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- 6 JUN 1980
REGISTRY
PA
Action
DESK OFFICER INDEX
мо
∞
Dear Clift,
AMENDMENT OF MACAU STATUTES
We have seen recent letters by David Wilson and Richard Reeve to you, commenting on attempts by members of the Macau Legislative Assembly to introduce amendments to Law 1/76, the Statutes of Macau. At the time of writing a third draft of the proposed changes is held up in the Legislative Assembly because of a boycott by eight members of the 18 member Assembly who are preventing the formation of a quorum.
2.
In his letter of 12 May to Roger Westbrook (who has now incidentally left the Embassy) Richard Reeve expressed surprise that Carlos d'Assumpção should have miscalculated the politicual situation by masterminding the changes. The actions of the ADIM group who are, as Reeve says, closely linked to the Centre Democratic Party can best be understood in terms of Lisbon rather than Macau politics. The key changes proposed in the first draft of the amendments concerned the authority of the Governor (who is the personal representative of the President of the Republic) and his ability to nominate members of the Legislative Assembly. Under the existing law six of the members are directly elected, six are nominated by local interest groups and the remainder are ex-officio members appointed by the Governor. Under the first version of the amendments the Assembly would have been enlarged to 24 members all of whom would have been directly elected. For good measure the draft included a provision preventing public servants from standing for election to the Assembly.
3.
The effect would have been to reduce the office of Governor to little more than a figurehead and to give Macau a similar degree of autonomy to that enjoyed by the Azores and Madeira. It is, I think, no coincidence that the Democratic Alliance, who have been at loggerheads with President Eanes ever since they came to power, should have sought to restrict further the powers of the President of the Republic. It has been widely recognised here that by apparently encouraging ADIM to push through these measures the Democratic Alliance have been prepared to risk political destabilisation in Macau as a price for political domination of the system of Government. The Lisbon Government
CONFIDENTIAL
/will