Big Data to be used to vet, review talent acquisition eligibility

IT strategies and apparatuses will be used to investigate the eligibility and credibility of people obtained through the future Talent Acquisition Law, a government official assured parliament yesterday.

The parliament held a plenary meeting for the second reading on the Bill of Talent Acquisition Legal System. It was passed unanimously with discussions revolving around several topics.

Lawmakers were particularly concerned with criminality crackdown and investigation efforts, due to previous revelations by the corruption watchdog of illicit practices in the acquisition of professionals and immigration by investments.

Trade Unionists Ella Lei and Leong Sun Iok, as well as civil servant Pereira Coutinho and independent Ron Lam raised questions on the topic. They asked about the size of the future inspection teams as well as the Talent Development Committee’s strategies and tactics.

Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong responded that IT and Big Data methodologies will help with implementing the work, while admitting that full-coverage inspection is impossible.

Revealing that more people will be hired for inspection purposes, she disclosed that an internal database would be established with the help of Big Data. Meanwhile, internal standards and criteria will also be founded so as to remind committee workers about persons of concern.

The computer application and software engineering graduate also emphasized that certain measures can help identify problems.

Leong cited a previous case wherein a housewife pretended to be an office manager and successfully acquired Macau residency. Ao Ieong believes that immigration and taxation records, as well as product samples or academic papers, will be able to help prove or disprove the correspondence between declared versus actual occupation.

It was also disclosed that the police will be called, should alleged violators decline to allow inspectors onto their premises.

On Ron Lam’s criticism over double-standard treatments for local talents and invited talents, Ao Ieong said all pre-requisites would be publicized and all interested parties can test their eligibilities.

Lam recalled that some local-resident medical professionals who obtained medical registrations or licenses from outside of Macau were asked to prove their academic qualifications, while the same measure did not apply to non-local medical professionals.

Lawmaker Pang Chuan, academic at the Macau University of Science and Technology, was concerned with talent acquisition in the academic circle. He did not see a criterion for academics to fit in the legal system.

Replying to his question, the Secretary guaranteed him that academic talents would fit in.

“Existing criteria include high and new technology, Big Health, culture and sports, MICE, etc. The ‘et cetera’ in fact gives flexibility and I can’t see which profession is not covered by this scope,” Ao Ieong explained.

On the matter of nurturing local talents through acquiring external talents, besides revealing that many places have dropped this as black-and-white requirement, Ao Ieong used her experiences as an example.

She disclosed that when she finished her Master’s studies, she went to a research institute where she put her theoretical knowledges into practice without senior researchers actually instructing her how to improve herself.

“Local people need to be motivated to progress, otherwise, we can’t help,” said the Secretary. She added that with external talents working together with local people, the latter would be able to acquire some external knowledges and make progress in life.

Ao Ieong was confident that the first batch of applications can be accepted in early August, with the application platform undergoing final testing and two sets of relevant Executive Regulations being nearly ready.

In their joint voting declaration, Che and Coutinho expressed reservations about the actual efficacy of the law.