Many people here hope the new administration, led by banker Edmund Ho, who will be sworn in as Macau's first chief executive tomorrow, will restore law and order.
Gambling is Macau's main industry, and it has proved a powerful magnet for Chinese triad gangs who have been waging a bloody turf war, shooting each other as well as government officials and police, for the past several years.
Ho has made security "the key issue" for his new government, but insisted that troops from China's People's Liberation Army aren't planning to start shooting it out with the triads.
"There are always rumors and speculations that the PLA soldiers would be called out of their garrison to serve as police on a daily basis," Ho said. "At the same time, there are also rumors that we will ask the Public Security Bureau from across the border to come in whenever necessary to make arrests or whatever. This will not happen."
The very presence of the troops has been sensitive to the Portuguese.
In deference to Portugal's concerns, Jiang apparently scrapped plans for the troops to roll into town right after the handover and will wait until noon tomorrow. Sampaio will be gone by then.
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