The majority of the lawmakers at the Legislative Assembly (AL) yesterday voted down nine proposals on topics related to social issues and the livelihood of the population.
All the proposers of the nine proposals were directly elected lawmakers including José Pereira Coutinho, Sulu Sou, Ella Lei, Song Pek Kei, Agnes Lam, Leong Sun Iok, and Mak Soi Kun.
Four of the nine proposals were related to the third round of government economic stimulus. Another two concerned the need to improve the system to facilitate the reemployment of resident workers who lost their jobs due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The proposals did not convince the appointed and indirectly elected lawmakers who voted down all proposals one after the other – in some cases without expressing a justification or initiating discussion on the topic.
Upon completion of the voting process, lawmaker Pereira Coutinho, who was responsible for two of the nine topics, said, “Today is a historical day. Nine proposals from lawmakers were all voted down. This [fact] certainly deserves a study by scholars and also a reflection by the Chief Executive.”
Addressing the coldness with which the government-appointed lawmakers addressed most of the topics, Coutinho added, “all topics were significant concerns of the population and affect the daily livelihood of the residents.”
By way of reply, lawmaker Wu Chou Kit attempted to explain the reasons adopted by those who voted against the proposals saying, “When there is no controversy, there is no place for debate,” adding that the topics chosen by the lawmakers were either those that the lawmakers could question the government on via other methods (such as spoken or written inquiries) or “topics that the government is already working on,” remarking that in such cases, it is useless to debate.
Siding with Coutinho was lawmaker Sou who also saw three proposals – one for debate, one on a law amendment, and one on issuing of votes – being voted down in a single day, yesterday.
“When there is controversy in society, the topic cannot be discussed. When there isn’t, it also cannot. We need to understand what is happening here,” Sou said after Wu’s response.
The proposals achieved a maximum of 12 to 14 votes in favor, a number insufficient to beat the 18 to 20 votes against.
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