Executive Council spokesman Leong Heng Teng announced yesterday that the local government will set up a commission tasked with formulating local policies on the safeguarding of national security and coordinating tasks concerning local legislation on the protection of national security.
Leong stressed that the new commission is not an entity for the enforcement of Macau’s local national security law – the Law on the Defence of National Security. He said that the commission would be tasked with assisting the chief executive in policymaking for matters concerning the protection of national security in Macau.
Addressing a press conference at Government Headquarters, Leong said that the council, the government’s top advisory body, has completed its discussion of a draft by-law on the Commission on the Defence of National Security of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR).
Government-drafted by-laws, officially known as administrative regulations, do not require the legislature’s approval.
According to Leong, the by-law will come into effect one month after its promulgation in the Official Gazette (BO) – meaning that the new commission will be set up at that time. Leong did not mention when the administrative regulation will be promulgated.
Leong said that there was a need for the local government to improve the special administrative region’s legal system to ensure the more effective enforcement of the local Law on the Defence of National Security. He said that the local government has, therefore, decided to set up the commission on the defence of national security.
In April, Central People’s Government Liaison Office in Macau Director Zheng Xiaosong urged Macau to improve its legal system to ensure the more effective enforcement of the local national security law.
Secretary for Security Wong Sio Chak also told reporters in April that the government would study the drafting of supplementary laws and regulations which would assist in the enforcement of the local national security law.
The local Law on the Defence of National Security was enacted in 2009 based on the Article 23 requirement of the Macau Basic Law.
Wong noted at that time that the local national security law was merely a framework law on the protection of national security in Macau.
Wong pointed out in April that the local national security law does not specify detailed procedures concerning the enforcement of the law, and neither does it mention any specific government entities tasked with enforcing the law.
Executive Council spokesman Leong Heng Teng speaks during yesterday’s press conference at Government Headquarters about the local government’s setting-up of the Commission on the Defence of National Security. Photo: Tony Wong
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