Lawmakers demand support for cross-border workers, students

Ella Lei

Lawmakers Ho Ion Sang, Ella Lei, and Wong Kit Cheng expressed concerns on Wednesday over the recent border-crossing regulations requiring commuters to take Nucleic Acid Tests (NAT) every 48 hours.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly (AL) in the time before the agenda, the lawmakers united on the issue to call on both government and employers in Macau to pay more support to people who work in Macau but live across the border in the neighboring city of Zhuhai.
The lawmakers voiced their dissatisfaction with the overnight implementation of the regulation which did not give enough time for affected commuters to adjust. They also expressed concern that these commuters, whom they claim to be “lower-income and so they had to [commute] across the border because they cannot buy a house or even support rental fees in Macau,” now face the high costs of NATs in order to travel to Macau for work or to study.
Wong called on the government to extend the eligibility for using temporary NAT stations to parents and guardians of cross-
border students, as well as to enforce a reduction or even waive the NAT fees for specific categories including parents and guardians of cross-border students, students and non-resident workers from the mainland.
Wong also urged the government to call on residents who need to cross the border on daily basis to be vaccinated as soon as possible.
Speaking on the same matter, Lei, who usually opposes policies that support non-resident workers, also proposed that local companies should provide their cross-border workers with “financial support to alleviate the economic pressure resulting from carrying out the tests, and short-term accommodation support,” aiming to reduce the risk for these workers’ when they travel between Macau and Guangdong.
For his part, Ho called for the announcement of new measures – such as the requirement for the presentation of the Health Code on buses and when entering various venues and public services – to be better publicized, so as to prepare the public in advance and avoid unnecessary panic and alarm in the community.

To diversify is patriotic: Au Kam San

Lawmaker Au Kam San has attacked the gaming industry, the main pillar of the local economy, accusing it of profiting for two decades at the expense of many lives, families, and bankruptcies in the mainland, the main origin of Macau gamblers.
Warning that the “Golden Years” of the gaming industry in Macau might be over, Au said that to push for genuine economic diversification of Macau’s economy would be a patriotic act, since it would eventually reduce several types of crime, social instability, suicides and corruption in the mainland caused by gambling addiction.
Au also said that his ideas are reinforced by legislative changes in the mainland which criminalize the advertising of overseas casinos. While it has been said that these measures would not directly affect Macau, they indicate the intention of the central government to curtail gambling.