Pereira Coutinho evaluates AL term, forecasts upcoming challenges

Candidate for the Legislative Assembly (AL) 2021 elections José Pereira Coutinho has presented an evaluation of the AL’s work over the past four years in a specially organized press conference on Wednesday.
In the press conference, the candidate also took the opportunity to forecast the upcoming challenges of the next AL term, which will start after the September 12 elections.
In a review of his work, Pereira Coutinho noted to he made a total of 201 inquiries to the government over the past four years, along with 11 debate proposals and five bill proposals.
Looking back, he expressed conflicting feelings about the developments of the AL.
On the one hand, he said that “the AL improved [somewhat in regards to concerns of] the transparency of its work,” and on the other, he also claimed that the new developments of how the AL works have to transformed it into a “rubber stamp.”
“I don’t know what has changed at the AL, since the system and the laws are the same, but something did change,” he said, adding: “We have only been able to present five bill proposals — we did try to present others but they were rejected by the house of rules and by the AL president.”
Pereira Coutinho noted that, especially during the last term, there was also an observable, increased difficulty in presenting debate proposals on themes that were of public interest.
“There were 13 [debate proposals] rejected, only on my initiative. I don’t know why the AL and the large majority of the lawmakers do not like to debate matters of public interest, even those related to social matters. This means that AL has [effectively] turned into a rubber stamp and that rubber stamping gives it a very bad image to the citizens,” he said.
The candidate drew upon his experience of the last term to forecast that, in the next term, it “will be even more difficult to fulfill what the Basic Law regulates as one of the duties of the lawmakers: to present bills and new draft laws.”
Regarding the work he expects to continue after being reelected in September, Pereira Coutinho said that, although the government has said it will present a bill next year that aims to finally install a Trade Union law in Macau, he intends to continue to push the matter and remain ready to present his initiative once again if needed, if the government does not do it first.
The candidate reiterated his opinion that lawmakers should be performing their duties as a full-time job, and not as a part-time activity. “We need to be ready to attend, in person, the request for help and support — as well as the complaints — from citizens, and [to] help them to find solutions,” he remarked.
For the candidate, the government should continue to reinforce its support to the local citizens and to the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have been suffering from the effects of the pandemic.
“It is time to use the [financial] reserves to avoid social disaster,” he said. “The SMEs are bleeding and dying. This will bring even more unemployment and will add a significant pressure to the social welfare system,” he concluded.