The national security bill proposed by the government of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) was approved by a big majority on Wednesday at the SAR's Legislative Assembly.

The bill, constitutionally required by Article 23 of the Macao SAR Basic Law (BL23), was passed in its second and final reading at a plenum of the 29-member Assembly. Twenty-eight lawmakers attended the plenum on Wednesday. The general outline of the bill was already approved by the Assembly on Jan. 5, 2009.

The bill will take effect one day after it was promulgated in the SAR's Official Gazette.

Under the SAR's BL23, Macao shall "enact laws on its own" to prohibit any act of treason, secession, sedition, subversion against the Central People's Government, or theft of state secrets, to prohibit foreign political organizations or bodies from conducting activities that endanger national security in the region, and to prohibit political organizations or bodies of the SAR from establishing ties with those foreign political organizations or bodies.

During the plenum, most of the lawmakers voiced their support for the legislation of national security law.

Undergoing initial drafting, public consultation, and a series of revisions, the clauses of the current bill is "clear and well-knit", the process of which showed the patriotic passion of the Macao people for the nation and the SAR, said Leong Heng Teng, a member of Assembly.

According to the statistics from the SAR government, a total of 784 pieces of opinion were received during the bill's public consultation period last year, of which 657 pieces came from individuals and 127 from local civil groups, with 86.76 percent of the individual and 96.85 percent of the civil group in favor of the bill.

(Xinhua News Agency February 26, 2009)