Policy Address | Sonia Chan Simplify procedures to cut number of civil servants, say lawmakers

The idea to rationalize the number of civil servants in order to save on government resources was one of the highlights of the second day of presentation by the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sonia Chan, regarding the policy address for 2017.

The Q&A session held yesterday afternoon at the Legislative Assembly (AL) was a continuation on the session held the previous day, where many questions were presented to Chan.

The first to address the problem of the “high number” of civil servants was lawmaker Chui Sai Peng, who suggested that the government simplifies bureaucratic procedures in order to “reduce the need” for these workers.

According to Chui, “the core of the rationalization resides in the simplification,” calling on the government to “de-bureaucratize” and ease administrative procedures.

The lawmaker used a comparison between Macau and the neighboring region of Hong Kong to argue that there are too many civil servants in the MSAR.

Replying to the lawmaker, Secretary Chan reaffirmed, “we cannot compare with a different reference,” noting that the situation of Hong Kong is different. Instead she reaffirmed that “the current number of civil servants is [what is] necessary to fulfill the needs [of Macau].”

Adding to the reply was the director of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP), Eddie Kou. He said that, regarding the simplification of procedures, said “we have already done several assessments and created several interdepartmental communication circuits,” adding that “in 2016/2017 there will be 47 items [that will be shared] and about 200 circuits [of communication] that are related to the presentation of documents.”

Kou also highlighted the focus of efforts to “reduce inconveniences” in terms of the waiting times at self-service kiosks.

Another of the lawmakers raising problems relating to civil servants was the lawmaker and vice president of the AL, Lam Heong Sang, who called for a change to the recruitment system that he says is “cumbersome.” The consequence of this, according to Lam, is that staff need to work long hours and “wait for a long time until [the department] has the vacancies occupied.” Lam added “there are also problems for staff [in applying] to other positions even within the same service.”

On the topic, Chan acknowledged that currently the number of “career staff” is almost the same as the number staff working on short-term contracts. “We are going to study a way of integrating the workers that are already working with the SAFP into the career [path], starting with those who have been performing [their] duties for a long time,” she said.

While Lam remarked on the difficulties in hiring new civil servants, it was Fong Chi Keong who contrarily pointed out that is “even harder to fire them.”

“We have a lot that aren’t working […] while the others have to work a lot more [to compensate] for them,” said Lam.

According to the lawmaker, such an attitude “affects the morale of other workers and produces negative influences, affecting also the work of the administrative mechanism.”

Fong suggested that, similarly to what happens in Hong Kong, the government in Macau should implement a regime of a one-time compensation for an early retirement in order to “clean” cases like these out of the system.

200 interpreters and translators needed

Two hundred is the number of new interpreters and translators required in the near future in the region. The figure was advanced yesterday by the director of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP), Eddie Kou, speaking at the Legislative Assembly (AL) in a reply to a question raised by lawmaker Angela Leong the previous day. Kou said that “more courses [are needed] in order to attract more talent to that field,” adding that the future needs in the finance and juridical fields are still unknown, but the government has already created a “task force to monitor those needs.”

Lawmakers call for Land Law review

Lawmakers Zheng Anting, Si Ka Lon and Leonel Alves called for a review for the land law yesterday in order to “correct mistakes” made in the past with the approval in 2013 of the current law, which presents “important loopholes.”

Referring to the particular case of the Pearl Horizon development, lawmakers Zheng Anting and Leonel Alves referred to examples of foreign investors who have been defrauded by the outcome.

Zheng noted that the government “accepted and received the payment of special stamp duty for the acquisition of units [in June 2015] without any problems,” adding that “buyers fulfill all their responsibilities but now they are defrauded.”
“I agree with what the president of TUI [Final Appeal Court] said [… which was] to go to the courts as the last resort; a solution that involves many costs and a long period of time to a resolve,” said Zheng.

Alves then concluded that it is a “serious problem that we hope can be solved for the progress of Macau.”

“The land law affects all our population and all economy,” continued Alves. “It should also be in the group of laws [that the office of Secretary Chan plans] to disclose.”

Secretary Chan replied: “Regarding the law revision, there isn’t yet a consensus in society. Without consensus we won’t do any law review.” Meanwhile, regarding the resort to the courts, “it was not the government that took the cases to the judiciary institutions, this was done by the interested [parties] in the defense of their rights and interests.”

Another of the laws that Alves said needed to be urgently addressed was that of the cases of top officials who, “due to a technical reason, have no right to appeal since they are judged by the TUI.”

According to the lawmaker, the problem could be easily solved if the TUI had more than the current three judges. He added that the impossibility of an appeal “is an injustice to people involved and also to the society.”  RM