Association wants journalists to be informed of AL committee meetings

The Macau Portuguese and English Press Association (AIPIM) has called on the Legislative Assembly (AL) to inform local journalists of committee meetings held by the legislative body.

The letter addressed to Ho Iat Seng, president of the AL, was sent on Friday after journalists were not informed of the AL Committee on House Rules that was held on Jan. 31.

Although local journalists eventually discovered the committee meeting and attended the AL session, it was only afterwards they found out that two meetings of the committee were to be held.

“AIPIM hereby requests that the existence of such meetings will be made known to journalists, in the same terms as the meetings concerning other AL committees,” the letter read.

“This step is important so that journalists can, in the light of the principles of transparency, public interest and right to information, perform their work best,” it added.

Last week, lawmaker Sulu Sou filed a complaint regarding what he claims to be the unlawful behavior of the Legislative Assembly’s Committee of Rules and Mandates. 

The lawmaker criticized the fact that not even lawmakers had been informed about the first meeting of the committee.

According to Sou, who had expressed his concerns to committee president Kou Hoi In, the president only replied saying that the first meeting was an “internal meeting” and that was why no other lawmakers, besides those on the committee, had been notified. The lawmaker also sent a letter to the AL complaining about this procedure. LV