The 1st Seminar on the Culture in Macau which was organized, having in mind the Chinese Community in the Territory, will be closed today.
The cultural development is catching the attention of Macau like anywhere else and this trend is reaching larger audiences which become more and more interested in discussing cultural matters as well as finding solutions to the Culture Sector.
When I took over my post at the Macau Cultural Institute I stated that the most important cultural phenomenon witnessed since the World Conference on Cultural Policies, held in Venice in 1970, was the expansion of its range of action both in national and international terms. I would say that following the 'Mundiacult' in August 1982 in Mexico City, the same trend has been unchanged.
The scarce economical resources and the precarious security notwithstanding, the cultural movement has been developing and expanding. In addition to the government cultural policy, a Society cultural policy is gaining momentum thanks to some profit-making national social institutions that have been incorporating some cultural features in their normal business.
The recent developments lead us to hope that in a near future Culture will be the most important issue for governments and societies, like it used to be in ancient times.
The world of today features a social framework in which conflicts and alliances are caused once again by cultural issues. Therefore cultural and social issues are converging more and more.
When the economy and politics become frighteningly unstable, the main guidelines for the development models will be achieved by giving priority to Culture. And again, Culture is the key to the change and the major ground for the liberation of mankind when there is a general wish to redesign the world and promote a new human identification in the light of the newly designed world.
To-day's world swings between the dream of a new Renaissance and an endless war, i. e., between the intelligence of cultural renewal and the military or economic suicide. The more precarious the peace is, the more valuable the world seems to become and therefore more efforts are put into the preservation of the world's cultural heritage.
The scenery that I described more than three years ago, remains unchanged in universal terms.
As regards Macau, the Eighties recorded an outstanding and unprecedented cultural development thanks to the legal and political statute that the Government assigned to Culture by establishing the Macau Cultural Institute in 1982. The Government has started including the cultural issue in its annual program and budget, and from 1987 on the sums assigned to culture were similar to those of some of the most developed countries.
The Terrritory features two different and separate communities on a social-cultural viewpoint. These communities are divided by a language barrier and although living together in this tiny peninsula they were unable to shorten the cultural gaps. With very few areas of common interest in terms of cultural and artistic creation and expression, Cultural issues are very complex and unique in Macau.
We are now entering the last decade before the third millennium. The handing over of the Portuguese Administration of Macau to the People's Republic of China in the penultimate year before the end of this century was mutually agreed to by the two Governments pursuant to the Joint Declaration. The people of Macau have now to face the challenge of trying to find the solutions regarding the forthcoming transition period.
It is not an easy task because even though being the majority, the Chinese people never held positions in the Macau Administration. Furthermore, most of the staff holding positions in the Administration of the future Special Administrative Region will be Chinese.
It is therefore required to follow the recent guidelines released by His Excellency the Governor of Macau concerning a fast localization of the Macau Administration with both Chinese and Portuguese (mainly Macanese) who plan to live in Macau beyond the transition period. These staff shall be fluent in written and spoken Chinese and Portuguese besides their technical qualifications.
Recently the Macau Administration has started to take important steps in compliance with the said guidelines. These steps will not slow down and must go even further by replacing those staff who would be unable to perform the duties required during and after the transition period.
In the light of the problems that this will raise, the best way would be to let the people speak and express their views. Obviously, our major concern was Culture since we are involved in it. Having this in mind, we have tried to secure the conditions for a comprehensive discussion on cultural issues in Macau which would enable to diagnose and forward alternatives.
The Macau Cultural Institute was committed to this project as a sponsor and did not interfere in any way with the organizers, participants and discussions.
No restrictions were imposed upon and no restrictions have arisen either. The basic principle was that everybody and every idea would be accepted and we even tried to bring those who criticize more strongly the Government Cultural Policy as well as the methods used by the ICM to put it into practice.
The Chinese community understood its full meaning and we were able to gather nearly 150 people who helped in the proceedings as described in the Seminar's final documents.
Unfortunately, so far the Portuguese community has reacted differently. If we take into consideration the opinion of those people who took part in the preliminary meetings of the would-be Seminar of the Culture in Macau, we would come to the conclusion that the majority did not want the Seminar to go ahead.
We think that that is a bad sign for the future of the Portuguese Culture in Macau. We have voiced the opinion that Culture is also subject to market rules, i. e., there will be no production nor consumption of Portuguese Culture if no consumers exist.
Portuguese of thirty years of age or over have been witnessing the slow death of the Portuguese Culture in India, a country where an Indo-Portuguese Cultural Community flourished for centuries. This could happen only because the Portuguese Government in the sixties was unable or just did not want, to separate politics from culture.
As regards Macau, the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration drew a political environment which will allow the preservation of a Portuguese Cultural Community beyond the transition period. The above India example lacked this decision. However it can only be successful if Macau is able to offer economical and social conditions in which Chinese and Portuguese interests are joined in order to become the core of the future Macau's Portuguese Culture Community.
We sincerely hope that the future will erase any pessimistic prognosis concerning the Portuguese cultural presence in Macau. We also hope that both cultures, Chinese and Portuguese, can blend with each other and as a result enrich each other in order to make Macau's autonomous cultural identity stronger.
If that can be achieved both China and Portugal would be richer and the World's Cultural Heritage more valuable.
Translated from the Portuguese by José Vieira
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