AL resumes with Sulu Sou setting the agenda

The first plenary session of the sixth Macau legislature – effectively initiating the  group of newly elected and appointed lawmakers – was marked by several queries regarding the procedures of the Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday afternoon.

Addressing the first query even before the scheduled period for spoken enquiries, AL president Ho Iat Seng commented on a letter of complaint presented to the AL board by lawmaker Sulu Sou on October 19 regarding the plenary’s deliberation over the constitution, members and designations of the AL’s Standing Committees.

The lawmaker questioned the choice of committee members as well as what actions they proposed to take in their positions.
Ho said the board had refused to address the topic at the plenary. “In the end of July we changed some of the rules of the AL [and have now established] a timing in advance for the lawmakers to present their proposals before the agenda speeches,” he said.

He said the measure was to allow AL staff to translate documents in both official languages for lawmakers and media representatives. “Those that failed to comply with such [a] rule today will not have the opportunity to address the plenary before the agenda […] their interventions [will be] postponed and [take] priority for the upcoming session.”

The procedure matters started right before the first interventions of the day, and followed the first point of the agenda where lawmakers discussed and voted on the composition of the Committee for Regulations and Mandates of the AL.

Sou was again the loudest critic, followed by Au Kam San, Pereira Coutinho and Ng Kuok Cheong. All four called for greater transparency in the works of the committees and demanded to know whether the seven lawmakers being appointed to the Committee for Regulations and Mandates would address certain issues. These included the possibility of opening AL meetings to the media and whether one lawmaker could be represented in multiple committees.

“The distribution was done according to the provenience [form of election]. We are going to have three [lawmakers] directly elected and three from indirect elections and I think this is a balanced solution,” Ho said.

Sou suggested that the AL board should question all lawmakers before deciding on the members of a list, “in case there are others that want to participate.”
Au agreed with Sou, and Pereira Coutinho reiterated that this had always been one of his main battles, saying that he was also very curious about the matter.

Ho’s response was that the regime “is very clear regarding this matter. There is no rule that restricts the participation of other [lawmakers in the committees] but this is a matter that should not be presented to the plenary since it’s a matter of the committee.”

He added that the members could not speak “because they were not elected yet.”

Ng voiced his agreement with the idea that “committees can be open to [the] public”, to which Ho replied that “this decision can be taken in the committee. That’s what the regime states. It’s a decision from the Committees.”

Pereira Coutinho suggested that the current rule could be “inverted,” leaving the Committees “open by default and in special cases [the meetings could be held] behind closed doors, just in very particular cases that can raise panic [in the society] or similar.”

Vong Hin Fai intervened, reaffirming the rule that allows nomination by secret vote in the event the list proposed by the Board is not accepted. 

This ended the debate and the AL proceeded to vote on the proposal, which was approved with 30 votes in favor and only two against (from Sulu Sou and Pereira Coutinho).

The second and third points of the agenda – pertaining to the constitution, members and composition of the Standing and Follow up Committees – were approved unanimously with 32 votes in favor.

For the last item on the agenda, lawmaker Angela Leong was elected as the representative in the Administration Council with a majority of 24 votes. Two votes were blank, while the rest of the opposing votes belonged to several other lawmakers.

Sulu Sou stands for young Macau people

In his first address to a Legislative Assembly plenary session, New Macau Association lawmaker Sulu Sou thanked voters for the trust placed in him and said that his “spike-covered” chair represents “the hope of survival” for his supporters. Sou remarked that he has always taken the initiative to speak out in the presence of injustice, “while others didn’t for being restrained by ‘hidden rules’.”

In a speech laying out his position, Sou said the because of the faith placed in him, “society will change, and even if it just slightly changes, there will be none to regret it.”

Housing and jobs were two of the issues highlighted in the speech. He said, “when housing and jobs are difficult, it is natural that youngsters become [divided]. They work and save money to go abroad,” noting that in this way, “young people that love this land and want to live all their lives in this city are labeled as having [low ambition] and fear to go out to the Greater Bay [area], the Belt and Road and Portuguese-speaking countries.”

Public officials’ accountability in the spotlight following Hato

Si Ka Lon (center)

The consequences of Typhoon Hato and their connection to the accountability of high-ranked public officials was a topic on which several lawmakers focused before the meeting began in earnest.

Si Ka Lon was the first to address the topic in the plenary, urging the government members to “assume their duties.”

Quoting Chinese Premier Xi Jiping during the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Si said, “The State needs to continue to implement criteria in order to have good staff; in other words, select government members that have strong convictions, that serve the people, that are hard workers and pragmatists, that assume their responsibilities and are incorruptible.”

He cited public opinion that many of the government members are “unqualified” and do not “assume their duties and responsibilities.”

Without mentioning Typhoon Hato, Si urged the government to “define criteria related to the accountability regime and, at the same time […] improve the inspection works.” He continued to say that when the inspections uncovered a “disease” they should “treat” it immediately.

In an unprecedented plenary address spoken entirely in Mandarin, appointed lawmaker Lei Chan U noted the “inoperativeness and low efficiency” of the administration. He called these “endemic problems” and entreated the government to “perfect” the mentioned regime.

Leong Sun Iok, a new face at the AL, also addressed the topic: “Society wants a perfect regime for the accountability of high-ranked officials.”

Leong noted that the “non-timely communication of information to the society by the SMG (Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau) before the passage of Typhoon Hato is one of the reasons that justify the significant losses, both in human lives and in property damage.” He accused government officials of developing a “passive attitude.”