Legislative Assembly | Ho Iat Seng ‘prudently considers’ CE candidacy

Ho Iat Seng

The president of the Legislative Assembly (AL), Ho Iat Seng,  acknowledged yesterday to be “actively considering” his candidacy to be the next Chief Executive when the successor of Chui Sai On will be chosen later this year.
Changing the tone of previous speeches, in which he noted several times that he had no intentions to run for the position, Ho said yesterday that he is “considering prudently” a candidacy, on the sidelines of the AL’s Spring Lunch.

Questioned further, Ho said that he is now “actively considering” his candidacy, although he did not want for the time being to publicly announce his candidacy, further noting that he has not advised the Central Government of such an intention.

Ho explained that he does not need to resign from his current duties before assuming the candidacy, in the instance that he decides to move forward: “We don’t need to quit first in order to apply to another position, the rules do not state that.”

The president of the AL also said that, in order to draft a strategy for a new government, it is always necessary to “take lessons from the work done by the previous government,” noting that this rule applies not only for the “position of the top leader of the MSAR, but to any other duties.”

Ho said he was not aware of any support group being formed in society regarding his candidacy, saying, “I haven’t done any lobby work or any other work [of campaign or promotion].” He pointed out that opinions always diverge in relation to whether a certain task is being properly handled or whether it needs improvement, and the same goes for people, noting that it is “difficult to please everyone.”

Questioned as to what he thinks should be a priority to improve, Ho said, “essentially the social wellbeing,” noting that the high number of debates undertaken and enquiries to the government made at the AL are proof of that the need to work towards the wellbeing of the population.

Asked to comment about whether he thought Ho would be a suitable candidate for CE, lawmaker Sulu Sou said, “I don’t believe that any Chief Executive [coming] from a small circle of election and that only represent this small circle would be a good Chief Executive for the whole society.”

He added that independently of who assumes the position, it will always be a “non-meaningful” CE and “it’s not meaningful also to discuss who could be a better or worse person in a limited circle of options that would be elected by an even smaller group of people.”

If Ho runs and becomes the new CE, Sou believes, “he will of course promote some changes [due to the change of roles] but either way his election would not change anything in the political environment of Macau.”

Sou to meet migrant workers associations soon

SULU SOU said that he aims to have a meeting with representatives of the migrant workers Associations as soon as possible. The lawmaker noted that the meeting has the purpose to hear the wishes of the associations, namely on the establishment of the minimum wage system for domestic workers. Sou said that he presented last November a proposal for the establishment of a universal system of minimum wage with an exception for domestic workers. He added that the meeting had initially been scheduled to occur last month and was  postponed after it become public that such associations would have a meeting scheduled with the government this week. Sou decided it was better to meet with the representatives of the migrant workerts after that meeting. According to Sou, the proposal of the New Macau Association plans to propose two minimum wage schemes, one of them only for domestic workers.

Vong Hin Fai says ‘secret meeting’ was political decision by Kou Hoi In

Vong Hin Fai

Lawmaker Vong Hin Fai admitted that holding  meetings that were not disclosed to all lawmakers happened before in the past. Asked to comment on the latest and controversial case, which involved lawmaker Sulu Sou, Vong said it was a political decision by the president of the Committee, Kou Hoi In.

“I remember that when I was president [of the Committee of Rules and Mandates] there were sometimes cases where meetings were not publicized,” Vong said, noting that this is a decision under the competence and discretionary power of the president of the committee.

In the case in discussion, Vong had no doubts that was “a political decision of the president [Kou Hoi In].”  The lawmaker said that in his opinion, not all meetings require information disclosed to all lawmakers and in cases where the tasks to be performed are “preparatory” such “information disclosure should not be mandatory.”

A similar opinion is also shared by the president of the AL, Ho Iat Seng that when questioned on the topic said, “if the presidents [of any committee] believe that the meeting should be notified [to all lawmakers] then this should be done. But this depends on  the decision of each committee,” Ho remarked.

On the topic, lawmaker Sulu Sou, reaffirmed the opinion that such decisions lack legality.