AL Plenary | Non-mandatory pension scheme fails to convince

Au Kam San

The government’s “Non-mandatory Central Provident Fund System” sent to the Legislative Assembly (AL) for debate and voting yesterday seems to have left both employers and employees unconvinced.
In fact, several lawmakers slammed the proposal as the debate heated up at the AL plenary session.
The debate was prolonged and at some points quite lively with the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture, Alexis Tam, hearing much criticism from both sides.
Ng Kuok Cheong questioned the government as to why a clear timeline for the implementation of the law has never been presented or even mentioned. “We didn’t hear about the number of institutions that will start to implement this system? Will the gaming concessionaries or public utility companies like water or electricity participate in this change?” he asked.
Another of the concerns shared by a large number of lawmakers in the assembly was in regards to the requirement for a worker contribute under the same company for a period of at least three years in order to be able to guarantee 30 percent of their employers’ contributions, while they would have to remain at the same company no less than 10 years to retrieve all of the money.
On this matter most of the lawmakers expressed disagreement with the requirement, suggesting the government find a solution based on a percentage according to the contributing duration.
Ella Lei, Mak Soi Kun and Lam Heong Sang went even further adding that the proposal does not take into consideration the different professions and the specificities of some of them. They raised the example of construction workers, who are often subjected to work conditions in which they are employed or contracted on a temporary basis.
“Not all activity sectors are suitable for the application of this legislation. For example, in the case of construction workers, there is a great deal of mobility and that depends on many factors that the workers do not affect,” lawmaker Mak Soi Kun remarked.
Lawmaker Kou Hoi In was one of the most active voices in expressing disagreement with the proposal and accused Alexis Tam of twisting the figures when the Secretary claimed the proposal had reached a consensus at the Standing Committee for the Coordination of Social Affairs. Kou insisted: “It is not true! The employers do not agree and have expressed several concerns.”
The same lawmaker also stated that with this proposal the “government is putting an added pressure on SMEs and on the young generation,” claiming also that “this isn’t the right time for this [legislation],” an opinion also shared by many other lawmakers.
Kou also criticized the benefits that the government claims to have established for the companies as an incentive saying “the government says it is a benefit, but almost nobody [in SMEs] pay taxes so this benefit [in the nature of a triple tax reduction] will be applicable to almost nobody.”
Pereira Coutinho deemed the proposal “a rubbish solution,” stating, “I will vote against. This is neither fish nor fowl,” he said.
Alexis Tam replied: “The MSAR needs to implement this legislation to guarantee the quality of life of the population after retirement.”
The secretary added that the government acknowledges that the implementation of the law will have some impact on the employers’ side but claims that the government “hopes to take this initial step first. It is a difficult one but we must do this!”
In an attempt to explain the threshold of the three-­year-contribution requirement, the President of the Administrative Committee of the Social Security Fund, Iong Kong Io said: “The idea is to reinforce the fidelity of employees and also to stabilize the work force.”
Also yesterday, the review to the Foreign Trade Law was approved with all votes in favor (30) and absolutely no discussion or vote declarations.

‘Macau Foundation has become a VIP club of high-ranked officials’

Lawmaker Au Kam San addressed the plenary to express his concerns over the monetary donations from the government and the lack of control and inspection over the activities of the Macau Foundation (FM).
Au said during the period before the agenda: “The Macau Foundation, fed with public money, has become a VIP club of high-ranked officials, tycoons and big associations.”
The lawmaker said that the foundation’s transformation had occured “because the Foundation’s Board of Trustees is composed of 20 members that represent all the major ‘pro government’ associations.”
He stated that the FM “refuses inspection” by not providing answers and data regarding its activities. The lawmaker further claimed, “there is a private university that deducts annually from Macao Foundation under the pretext of developing technologies and in the way of financing themselves in the hundreds of millions of patacas.”
The lawmaker urged the Chief Executive, Chui Sai On and the government to fulfill the law and to publicly publish the accounts of the FM. RM

Kou Hoi In