Lawmaker asks for MOP12,000 cash handout

Pereira Coutinho

The Chief Executive, Chui Sai On, has pledged a wage rise for civil servants and the continuity of the cash handout for the coming year, according to Macau Civil Servants Association president José Pereira Coutinho, who talked to Chui yesterday morning.
During a one-hour meeting where the city’s leader, accompanied by Secretary for Administration and Justice Sonia Chan, took suggestions from the association head for his 2016 fiscal year Policy Address that is slated for November 17. Chui has been listening to different groups in recent days during his run-up to the widely anticipated policy announcement.
Coutinho, also a lawmaker, advised him to increase the individual amount of next year’s Wealth Partaking Scheme to MOP12,000, which has not yet been agreed to by Chui. Nevertheless, the CE told him that the cash handout would still be available next year. “Let’s see how much it will be. After all there will be a check for sure,” he said. “This is great news for Macau residents.”
So far the government has yet to make up its mind on the extent of the increase in its employees’ salaries, although Coutinho proposed a six percent increase for the two top officials. He told the media that he was confident that his wish would come into fruition eventually.
“Let’s look forward to the amount increasing. It’s been good already when there has been a hike,” he said.
The lawmaker also anticipated  that the upwards-adjustment in salaries would turn into a “regular system”, with the amount of increase announced on the first day of every year.
Furthermore, he urged the government to introduce another wage increase for low-level civil servants, whose salary, he claimed, hardly rivaled ordinary dishwashers’.
Chui also pledged to bring in more citizen-oriented infrastructure and facilities in the prospective reclaimed areas and also accelerate the construction of the Island Hospital, Coutinho said.
In addition, he pressured the Chief Executive to build 80,000 more affordable housing units in the territory to address the public demand. He also appealed for tighter supervision over the gaming industry and realization of the system to punish incapable officials.
“We hope the officials can understand that the city is competing with neighboring regions,” he said. “If their governance is not enhanced, the city would be overtaken by those regions.”
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting with the CE, Coutinho said that the region’s development model based on the gaming industry should be rethought: “It’s very simple: we don’t want to have so many casinos in Macau. We have too many of them. They shouldn’t be allowed to have so many gaming tables.”
The government released a statement later in the day stating that the authorities are “confident [that they will] retain social welfare measures and the long-term mechanisms related to citizens’ livelihood.”