AL Plenary | Wu Zhiliang says mainland China is priority in financial support from FM

The president of the FM, Wu Zhiliang (right)

The donation of RMB100 million from the Macao Foundation (FM) to Jinan University was one of the biggest highlights of yesterday’s plenary meeting at the Legislative Assembly (AL) in a session entirely dedicated to the reply from several government departments and secretariats to the lawmakers’ spoken enquiries.
The president of the FM, Wu Zhiliang was called to the AL to reply to a spoken enquiry. It aimed not only to address the donation given to the university in mainland China, but to clarify the system in use by the foundation to operate and control the subsidies granted to many institutions and associations.
Replying to the question presented by Ng Kuok Cheong on whether the FM “should or should not subsidize institutions in mainland China,” Wu clearly stated: “Who should have priority in obtaining financial support? Does it have to be those that have contributed more to Macau, that have a close relationship with the economic and socio-cultural development of Macau and those that can help us more in the future?” he asked.
He concluded that, if these should be the criteria, “we know that mainland China has contributed significantly to the development of Macau.”
According to the president of the FM, that would be the opinion of “any scholar or citizen, and is not worth justifying it with complicated theories.”
Wu remarked, contrary to what legislator Ng raised during the enquiry, the foundation possesses comprehensive regulations to prevent conflicts of interest, and they are strictly enforced.
He also added that, due to doubts regarding the definition of who can be considered a “representative” of an association or institution, during the years of 2008 and 2009 the FM elaborated and enforced an “Internal Regulation” to clarify on those matters and since then they have been operating under both the administrative code and the additional regulation.
In this sense, Wu considers the donation, which was investigated by the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) and was considered to have been conducted “according to the law,” was not only “lawful” but also “rational and justifiable.” He added that all financial support from the institution is approved according to four principles: “first, the support granted to institutions from outside Macau should be a small percentage when compared to the total amount of support granted by the foundation; second, the institutions outside Macau to receive support should be government-owned entities; third, the reasons for the support should be directly related to Macau or able to help its development; fourth, applicants should fulfill all the formalities required to be eligible to get the support.”
The FM leader said that by the aforementioned principles, it does not agree with  accusations of a “lack of credibility,” concluding that “credibility is not determined by public participation, but [instead] depends on good regimes and rules.”
Several of the lawmakers contributed to this topic including Pereira Coutinho who said, “the same regulations have always existed. The problem is that the results [from the regulations] aren’t satisfactory.”
The lawmaker added that, in “neighboring regions there are stricter regulations that include background checks and [verification of the] associations and institutions that members represent.”
Coutinho thinks that the criteria that led to the Jinan University donation are unclear and that the FM should “elevate its transparency.”
Au Kam San was another of the lawmakers questioning the answers from Wu. In reference to the case that involves the Chief Executive (CE), Au asked: “If in this case there is no conflict of interest, when would that occur?” emphasizing the position held by the CE of “leadership and high administration.”
Leong Veng Chai went one step further and proposed a ceiling on the size of a donation that can be directly approved by the FM, proposing that “high amounts” should be first scrutinized by the AL.
“Maybe we should implement a ceiling on – let’s say – over [MOP]10 million which would require analysis [and approval] by the AL,” he proposed.
Melinda Chan also agreed with the idea of establishing a ceiling. She separately suggested that the donation’s “purpose” should be included on the public accounting report from the FM, instead of only the institution and the amount.
Wu once more replied saying “the criteria is based on the interest and importance to Macau. They [Jinan University] have [helped to educate] more than 20,000 students,” he said.
“In the last few years we have been demanding that recipient associations raise the degree of transparency regarding the use of the subsidy. We ask that the associations present detailed reports with the expenses afforded by the subsidy, after it has been delivered and used,” he explained.