These days, 78-year-old Ho Cheong Po has kept asking the local community association to let him join the well-wishers who are to greet the garrison troops of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) to Macao.

Ho's requests were turned down by the Residents Mutual Assistance Association of the Chou Toi 6 Streets earlier because of his old age. However, the old man has never given up.

"Macao will soon return to the embrace of the motherland. This is an unprecedented event, and we Chinese here will become masters of our own destiny. I am so happy and excited," the old man said, adding that he must do something for the arrival of the garrison troops who symbolize the sovereignty of China.

Ho is one of the numerous local residents who are eager to join the 20,000-strong welcoming crowd who are to line the streets to greet the incoming soldiers.

According to the Federation of Macao Neighborhood Associations, the largest of its kind in Macao, more than 3,000 members of the local neighborhood associations are expected to join the well-wishers organized by all circles of the region.

The association's annual Christmas gathering was thus held ahead of schedule on December 14 to leave more time for the return-related activities.

Kong Kam Van, a 77-year-old woman who has been president of the association for a dozen years, disclosed that her 16-member team will welcome the PLA garrison troops with banners, miniature national flags, and floral rings.

As one of the 25 members of the Federation of Macao Neighborhood Associations, the Chou Toi 6 Street Association has been a patriotic body ever since it was founded in the 1960s. In recent years, the association has held a series of lectures on the Basic Law of the MSAR.

Being a Chinese and Macao resident, Kong said she feels very happy for Macao's upcoming return to the motherland because it marks an end to foreign rule on the Chinese soil. All these should be attributed to the prosperity and mightiness of the motherland, she stressed.

To station the garrison troops in Macao has been up to the aspirations of local residents, Kong said, noting that her neighbors are very much impressed by the reports on the good behavior of the PLA garrison troops in Hong Kong.

The PLA garrison troops will be a deterrent force in maintaining social order in Macao, though they will not be directly involved in local security work, Kong said. That's why local residents are eager to see their presence here, she added.

Referring to the future MSAR Government headed by Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah, the old lady said she is confident of this young, energetic and well-educated man. The MSAR Government has won wide support from local residents and is capable of improving the economy and building a better Macao, she said.