Association for the Defense of Macau Interests (; ; ADIM) was a
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
and
localist
Localism describes a range of political philosophies which prioritize the local. Generally, localism supports local production and consumption of goods, local control of government, and promotion of local history, local culture and local identi ...
political association based in
Macau
Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a p ...
. Founded on 19 June 1974 by Delfino José Rodrigues Ribeiro and Carlos Augusto Corrêa Paes d’Assumpção,
ADIM collaborated politically with
CDS
The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...
in Portugal, as both shared similar ideology
ADIM is a political association of Portuguese origin and of a conservative and localist nature founded in 1974 by a group of Macanese, among which were Delfino José Rodrigues Ribeiro and Carlos Augusto Corrêa Paes d’Assumpção, who naturally became the leader of this association. ADIM maintained a close political collaboration relationship with the Portuguese Social Democratic Center (CDS), whose ideology was similar to that of ADIM.
Objectives
Unlike the liberal
Democratic Centre of Macau (CDM), ADIM aimed to prevent Macau to be rapidly
decolonized like the
Portuguese colonies in Africa and to defend the status quo of Macau as a Portuguese territory, instead of focusing on the
democratization of Macau. With the formation of ADIM, local pressure also increased to transform the colonial structures that still existed in Macau.
History
Formation and dominance
On 19 June 1974, Carlos Augusto Corrêa Paes d’Assumpção and other former members of the
People's National Action, ruling party of Portugal until
Carnation Revolution which saw the regime overthrown, formed the Association for the Defense of Macau Interests, mainly composed of Macau-born Portuguese (or
Macanese). d’Assumpção became the chairman of the association.
In
1975 Portuguese Constituent Assembly election
Constituent Assembly elections were carried out in Portugal on 25 April 1975, exactly one year after the Carnation Revolution. The election elected all 250 members of the Portuguese Constituent Assembly.
It was the first free election held in Po ...
, ADIM ran in the Macau constituency of
Constituent Assembly of Portugal and obtained 1,622 votes (0.03%), defeating CDM and electing Diamantino de Oliveira Ferreira as the deputy of Macau.
The co-founder and leader of ADIM, Carlos d'Assumpção, actively participated in the drafting of the new
Organic Statute of Macau (EOM).
In Macau's first free legislative elections in
1976
Events January
* January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force.
* January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea.
* January 11 – The 1976 ...
, d'Assumpção led ADIM to victory after winning 4 out of 6
directly elected seats in the
Legislative Assembly of Macau
The Legislative Assembly of the Macau Special Administrative Region (; ) is the organ of the legislative branch of Macau. It is a 33-member body comprising 14 directly elected members, 12 indirectly elected members representing functional co ...
(AL), receiving 55% of votes. d’Assumpção was then elected
President of the Legislative Assembly of Macau
The President of the Legislative Assembly is the speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Macau
The Legislative Assembly of the Macau Special Administrative Region (; ) is the organ of the legislative branch of Macau. It is a 33-member body c ...
, a position he held until his death in 1992.
In the
1980 legislative election, ADIM won 1433 votes (59.3%) and 4 seats through direct election. ADIM also managed to elect a deputy (Delfino José Rodrigues Ribeiro) by
indirect election
An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office (direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the old ...
in the sector of moral interests.
In 1984, d'Assumpção led an unusual conflict with
Governor of Macau
The governor of Macau ( pt, Governador de Macau; ) was a Portuguese colonial official who headed the colony of Macau, before 1623 called captain-major ( pt, Capitão-mor). The post was replaced on 20 December 1999 upon the transfer of sove ...
Vasco de Almeida e Costa
Vasco Fernando Leote de Almeida e Costa, GCIH, GCL (25 July 1932 – 26 July 2010) was a Portuguese naval officer and politician.
Biography
He served as Minister of Internal Administration during José Pinheiro de Azevedo's government, betwee ...
, which resulted in the dissolution of the Legislative Assembly later that year.
New election was then called, and the Governor implemented reforms days before the dissolution of AL, including tax incentives for voter registration. Therefore, non-Portuguese became the largest voter group in direct election for the first time. d'Assumpção, with the help of
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, led the Electoral Union (; ) made up of several important elements of the Chinese community, with Portuguese and Macanese elements from ADIM.
The list won 16,003 votes (58.87%), with 4 deputies elected through direct election. In
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
, Electoral Union, led once again by d'Assumpção, got 6298 votes (31.41%) and 3 deputies elected by direct suffrage, and had lost the majority in directly elected seats.
Post-handover
In 1992, Carlos d'Assumpção, the co-founder and leader of ADIM, died, ending the history of Electoral Union. The death, along with the emergence of new civic-political groups originated in the Chinese community, caused the significant decline of ADIM with little influence and activities, and is not represented in the Legislative Assembly. ADIM is also no longer active in Portugal as Macau is no longer under Portuguese administration.
Its headquarters are located on Estrada D. João Paulino, in the Parish of S. Lourenço.
Publications
In March 1975, ADIM launched the magazine ''Confluence'', in which many Portuguese and Macanese participated, including the lawyer and writer
Henrique de Senna Fernandes, who wrote mainly about movies. This party-operated publication served to counter the influence of the magazine ''Democracy in March'', which had been publishing the ideas of the CDM since November 1974.
In October 1982, ADIM launched the ''Jornal de Macau'', as opposed to the ''Tribuna de Macau'', the publication appeared in the same month which was belonged to Jorge Neto Valente, one of the co-founders of the CDM. Nevertheless, ''Jornal de Macau'' and ''Tribuna de Macau'' ended up merging as ''
Jornal Tribuna de Macau'' on 1 November 1998 as the change of political landscape and the approaching
handover of Macau ended the rivalry between CDM and ADIM.
Elected representatives
Below were the directly elected representatives of ADIM in AL from 1976 to 1992:
* Carlos Augusto Corrêa Paes d'Assumpção (1976–92)
* Diamantino de Oliveira Ferreira (1976–84)
*
Susana Chou
Susana Chou Vaz da Luz (born 2 December 1941), also known as Chou Kei-jan and Cao Qizhen, is a Macau politician who served as the President of the Legislative Assembly of Macau from 1999 to 2009.
Biography
Chou's ancestral hometown is the cur ...
(1976–80)
* José da Conceição Noronha (1976–80)
* Joaquim Morais Alves (1980–92)
*
Anabela Fátima Xavier Sales Ritchie (1980–84)
* Manuel de Mesquita Borges (1984–88)
*
Lau Cheok-vá
Lau Cheok-vá () is a Macanese politician, serving as the President of the Legislative Assembly of Macau. He is also currently serving as Deputy to the 11th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China, Vice-President of Macao ...
(1984–88)
* Lao Kuoung-po (1988–92)
Electoral performance
Constituent Assembly election
Legislative Assembly elections
References
External links
Intervenções de Diamantino de Oliveira Ferreira na Assembleia Constituinte de Portugal
{{Improve categories, date=July 2022
Political parties in Macau
Conservative parties in Portugal
Political parties established in 1974