AL Plenary | Most lawmakers against Ng’s political reform proposal

Ng Kuok Cheong

The Legislative Assembly (AL) voted in yesterday’s session on a proposal delivered on Monday by lawmaker Ng Kuok Cheong that aimed to force the government to initiate a political reform for eventual universal suffrage in the election of the Chief Executive (CE).
The proposal received backlash at the plenary meeting. Several lawmakers slammed Ng’s initiative and in some cases, accused him of trying to make the AL and its legislators “hostages” of his private interests.
Ng claimed otherwise, arguing that debate on a real political reform in Macau was urgent.
“We have, as soon as possible, to prepare to change our political system to one based on universal suffrage,” he argued, justifying such a measure by the changes occurring in the region’s demographics. In Ng’s opinion, “Macau cannot continue to fail to make progress and be conservative [on this matter].”
Chief among the proposal’s many critics was Kwan Tsui Hang, who was visibly upset and said the topic under debate was “not a simple matter of yes or no.”
Claiming that universal suffrage will not solve society’s problems, Kwan asked rhetorically: “Will be possible that a legislator with so many years of experience doesn’t know what this represents?”
Also slamming the proposal in a heated intervention was Tsui Wai Kwan, who said that Ng has always claimed that a democratic system with votes to elect the lawmakers and the Chief Executive will help to fight corruption, but “we have many examples of countries and territories where the government is elected by universal suffrage and its members are still involved in corruption.”
“I see no urgent need to change the system,” he added.
Others justified the rejection of such a proposal on the grounds of the procedures it sought to implement.
Chan Iek Lap described the proposal as “an abuse to the AL regiments” and remarked that such a norm “does not serve the purpose of expressing a personal political opinion and will.”
Other lawmakers like Song Pek Kei recalled that Ng had presented a similar proposal to the AL in 2014, which at that time was already considered an abuse of power.
“I don’t know what the lawmaker really wants with all this. Is it that he is trying to promote any real change or does he just want to forcibly lead other lawmakers to express their personal position on the topic?” Song asked, adding that it was not up to Ng alone to define the right time for political reform.
However, Song admitted that the government had not made any real progress on the subject and voiced her hopes that the government could “create a platform so everybody can express his or her opinion.”
Supporting the proposal were Au Kam San, Pereira Coutinho and Leong Veng Chai. The biggest support came from Au, who said that the proposal has “relevance”, recalling the CE’s promise in 2014 to ensure development of the political system. There have been no such developments to date.
“We know that this voting does not promote any effect but it can send a message to the CE on that way [to develop the political system],” Au said, adding that “there is a certain urgency to move into elections.”
Pereira Coutinho also supported the motion, but chose his words carefully.
“We hear people saying that they want more lawmakers directly elected but we continue with the same number. The College that elects the CE is only 400 people and it’s totally controlled,” he said.
Coutinho acknowledged that “this time” Ng was successful in his attempt to “shake the pillars”, adding also that the “lack of participation of the youngsters is due to a marginalization of young people [who] can only resort to protests and demonstrations [to be heard].”

calls for alternative lrt solution

Kou Ho In, Cheang Chi Keong and Chui Sai Cheong backed the idea expressed by Kou Ho In in his spoken enquiry during the period before the agenda at the AL yesterday. The group calls for an alternative solution to the implementation of the Light Rail Transit system (LRT) in the peninsula regarding the problems encountered during the works in Taipa section. The legislators say that others solutions are to consider since the traffic congestion and other construction related problems currently seen in Taipa would create a very serious situation if repeated in the Macau side. As an alternative they propose the government to simply connect the Taipa section to the Barra main station and the construction instead of a “monorail system around the city following the shoreline.” Such a system together with a readjustment of the roads network could relief the traffic pressure and even add a “touristic element” to them.

AL denied more supervision over public works

The bill that will establish the new Budget Framework Law (LEO) was discussed and approved yesterday during the plenary meeting of the Legislative Assembly (AL).
Although the bill passed with only three votes against, the session heated up after the presentation by the Secretary for Economy and Finance Lionel Leong and his team at the plenary for the second consecutive day.
Several lawmakers made comments, with Ng Kuok Cheong the most prominent among them. Ng reiterated that Leon’s predecessor, Francis Tam, had presented a similar proposal a few years before. In his opinion, the bill does not offer many advances and “is still unsatisfactory to what concerns public constructions.”
Ng and other lawmakers reaffirmed their wish for major public construction works to fall under the scrutiny of the AL.
The lawmaker proposed that public construction works “budgeted above MOP40 million or MOP50 million should be open to public discussion [through a debate at the AL].”
He remarked that this opinion had also been expressed by former secretary Tam, but that it had been not considered in the analysis of the current bill.
“If this mechanism is not included, it will be a major omission,” Ng said.
Chui Sai Cheong was one of those who expressed support for the bill, highlighting that the new law presents “several aspects that contribute in certain ways to the transparency [of public accounts].”
Nevertheless, the lawmaker remarked that “to learn about its [the law] functionality, we need to know the administrative regulations that will complement it.” He expressed the hope that such regulations can be presented to the standing committee specializing in the relevant area.
Cheong also commented on the need of the Finance Bureau (DSF) to undertake a significant effort in order to clearly explain the new system to all departments.
The new law establishes two new government reports regarding public accounts: a mid-term report to be presented in the beginning of August and a quarterly report on the execution of the PIDDA.
Some lawmakers, such as Ma Chi Seng, questioned what the AL could do in the event that any irregularities are found in the mid-term reports, but received no answer.
On the government’s side, Lionel Leong explained that according to the Basic Law, individual projects  will not be presented to the AL. He said that “big projects” from the government are already included in the general budget submitted for AL approval, so that lawmakers can question and request information on these projects ahead of time. RM