AL president reiterates law abidance in Sulu Sou’s case

Legislative Assembly (AL) president Ho Iat Seng stressed yesterday during a meeting between journalists and lawmakers that “the political system of Macau privileges the predominance of executive power, with a relationship of complementarity between this power and the legislative, whilst the judicial power enjoys its own autonomy.” Consequently, Ho said that the AL has been operating “in the context of predominance of the executive power.”

During yesterday’s event, the AL president also addressed the Sulu Sou case, although avoided any direct reference to the lawmaker. The AL president said that “a recent case” has been dealt “with due respect for judicial autonomy and by the principle of non-interference in judicial bodies.” Ho added that the Basic Law and the statute of lawmakers were respected during the process.

Talking with journalists on the sidelines of the meeting, Ho Iat Seng said that he mentioned the case because “the speech cannot be the same every year and, as always, this year we must also talk about issues that are on the agenda.”

Also attending the event, lawmaker Sulu Sou, who is currently suspended – a decision of the AL plenary he is appealing – commented on Ho’s speech saying that local courts could be called to check if AL procedures were made according to the law. “I always disagree that the Legislative Assembly should be 100 percent independent,” he told TDM.

Sou also said that the AL is “not very successful” when monitoring the government.