葡萄牙統治澳門四百多年，不僅澳門的典章制度都是葡文，澳門政府的公務員也幾乎都是葡人或土生葡人。佔澳門人口絕大多數的華人，在澳門公務員隊伍中幾無立足之餘地，尤其在澳門政府的中、上級公務員當中，華人幾乎絕跡。一九九九年十二月二十日澳門將「回歸J'屆時如果葡人及土生葡人公務員撤退，澳門政府將形同真空。因此在過渡時期的「公務員本地化」備受重視。本文將從i奧門公務員制度檢討「公務員本地化」的進度和困難，以及對一九九九年「回歸」工作的重大影響。

Macao has been under Portuguese rule for more than four hundred years.

Not only are its laws and regulations written in Portuguese， but most of its civil servants are Portuguese， being either from Portugal or locally-born. AIthough the Chinese form an overwhelming majority of its population， Macao has only a small number of Chinese civil servants and the number of its medium and high-ranking Chinese civil servants is practically negligible. Macao will be handed over to mainland China on December 20， 1999. If all Portuguese civil servants， including those who were born locally， leave Macao's civil service on that day， the Macao government would be paralyzed. Localization of civil servants， therefore， is regarded as an issue of utmost importance during the present transitional period. This article first examines both Macao's progress and difficulties in localizing its civil service and then discusses the serious impacts of this localization on the 1999 turnover.