Neto Valente at Lawyers Day | Public administration staff should be promoted based on merit

The president of Macau Lawyers Association (AAM), Jorge Neto Valente, has called on the government to improve the management of human resources within public administration services, stressing that employees “should be promoted based on merit.”
“There’s an issue concerning our public administration, as people are sometimes promoted based on their seniority and based on the fact that the whole structure wishes to offer them a higher salary. It’s based on seniority rather than on merit,” he told reporters on the sidelines of the Lawyers’ Day opening ceremony held on Friday.
Mr Neto Valente stressed that it leads to situations in which professionals are promoted to senior positions despite lacking leadership abilities. “They might be qualified but they might not have a leadership profile. They are not prepared to serve in a leading position.”
Furthermore, there comes a point in which these professionals find themselves afraid to make important decisions. “When we want to promote someone just to offer them a more competitive wage, they will then be in a leading position but are not prepared to lead. They do not make mistakes either, because they’re afraid of taking decisions,” Mr Neto Valente reiterated.
“Rather than offering them a higher salary, it is more important to assess their suitability to be promoted to senior positions,” he added.
While delivering his speech at Friday’s event at Senado Square, Mr Neto Valente also raised criticism over the suitability of some legal advisers working within the public administration. He recalled that not all of them have the right background and qualifications.
“There are people being recruited who do not have a legal background focusing on Macau’s legal system, which is the only one that matters here. Mainland China’s legal system has no application here,” he said.
Mr Neto Valente stressed that it is crucial for the public administration to have a reasonable number of competent legal advisers, who have a comprehensive understanding of Macau’s legal system.
The Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan, who attended the opening ceremony of the Lawyers’ Day activities on Friday, told reporters that the government “pays attention to the recruitment process of civil servants.”
“We will pay great attention to the criteria used to hire civil servants and through that criteria, we hope to improve civil servants’ excellence,” she assured.
Currently, AAM is comprised of 317 lawyers and 134 trainees. Mr Neto Valente said that the further training of local young lawyers is one of the association’s main priorities. However, he acknowledged that the association is likewise concerned about lawyers’ training and strives to make sure that their background meets society’s needs and expectations.
Regarding Macau’s legal system, Mr Neto Valente said he does not consider the revision of legal codes a priority. When asked which laws should be prioritized in the government’s revision plans, Mr Neto Valente responded saying, “surely it is not a priority to revise general codes.”
“These are the backbone of our legal system, so I don’t think it’s a priority to revise them as they were drafted to be up to date for quite a long time,” he stated. “Of course our society has evolved and there are things that should be included – for instance, cybercrime – which was not very common before.”
But as for including other pieces of legislation, Mr Neto Valente is more skeptical: “For instance, they want to legislate on indecent assault. I agree that indecent assault should be punished. But is it a big problem in Macau now? From my experience, it’s not a recurrent crime here.”
Lawyers’ Day was celebrated between Friday and Sunday. A series of activities were held to provide Macau citizens with further information about the legal profession.

more people interested in aam presidency

The president of the Macau Lawyers Association (AAM), Jorge Neto Valente, hinted that other lawyers might be interested in taking over in the AAM’s next elections. The current term runs from 2015 to 2017.
“The role requires a great deal of work and it reduces the amount of hours one can work at their own law firm. I can only serve as president because I am fortunate enough to have great colleagues working at my office and that can take up some of my work,” he said, adding that “only people who have that kind of availability could serve as president.”