MACAU advertises itself as a fun haven for visitors from Hong Kong and all over the world but, for me, the experience is memorable only because it has been so frustrating. I am a Christian Filipino national who worked for several years in Hong Kong for a prominent family. Last week my companion and I decided to go to Macau for one night to visit a friend. We arrived at the ferry pier in Macau and waited patiently in the queue. When we arrived at the immigration counter, we produced our travel documents and we thought it would be just a formality. The immigration officer, after leafing through our papers, ordered us into a room in which there was already another Filipino. We were rudely asked to explain why we wanted to visit Macau, how long we intended to stay and whether we had HK$8,000 in cash each. He then searched our belongings and counted our money in Hong Kong denominations and in pesos. Since I wanted to visit Macau for one day, I did not bring so much money. It would have been foolish to bring so much spending money. After about 15 minutes of interrogation, the officer sent my friend and me back to Hong Kong without an explanation or without refunding the cost of a wasted ferry ticket. My whole morning was wasted. I felt denigrated and humiliated. I did not realise that Macau was so expensive for Filipinos. I believe every country or territory is entitled to its own immigration rules, but I also think it would be courteous of Macau to publicise the regulation requiring some nationals to bring withthem the equivalent of a small ransom every time they go to that city. A notice in the newspapers and at the ferry pier telling us that we are not wanted in Macau unless we are laden with cash would have spared us a lot of anxiety, time lost and a journey to nowhere. I will not speculate on the motives behind the harassmentand leave the explaining to the Macau Tourist Board. BETH SAVILLA The Peak
