Macau Caritas Secretary General Paul Pun is slated to focus his efforts on charity outreach, and thus has decided not to run for a seat at the Legislative Assembly (AL) election this year.
The last time Pun ran was in 2013, leading the Engagement With People for Progress group, in which he filed their final candidate list and their political platform, along with four members on the list.
This year, Pun is ready to expand Caritas’ services.
Pun states that he did not run in the ongoing sixth election as he “has yet to do things with the center” he is responsible for.
After trying to win a seat four times, Pun decided to work on developing the services Caritas is currently providing, stressing that the association is also a way to serve the local community.
“I believe that even when I’m not in the election, I’m still working with the grassroots, working for underprivileged and needy residents.”
“I’m not planning to form one group, nor do I think of endorsing any individuals or group. I’m just preparing myself to work better in the society,” Pun stressed, hinting that he may still run for positions in future elections.
Pun hoped that the public would be able to choose their candidates, in a bid to ensure election fairness.
“But the judicial system itself still has some limitations. I hope that in the future the basic law will have some room to adjust,” he said.
When asked what advice he would give to voters, he advised, “we should be wise to know who is serving the needy and who will respond to the needy.”
However, Pun is disappointed that there are parties who are already promoting themselves. “I’ve [received] promotion papers already and I’ve thrown them [away]. People are already promoting at this time,” he criticized.
The veteran social worker implied that he could not just leave his position at Caritas and focus on the AL, as there is currently nobody able to take over his responsibilities.
Pun believes that he still has a role to play as an independent civic voice in society. He adds that he not only targets improving the quality of life of residents but is also keen to assist the underprivileged outside Macau.
Pun declined to comment on the nominees filing their candidate list, but hoped that these entrants would not make more broken promises, and that they would contest the elections in a “decent and fair manner.”
The Caritas Secretary General also suggested that candidates should be aware of current societal needs and not just focus on the region’s transportation and public housing issues.
“The need of the society is different. It’s not just housing and transportation, [but] fair opportunities for us to communicate amongst each other,” he said, hinting at the absence of a platform for residents to express their views and opinions on newly-made laws.
Although Pun clarified that Macau has freedom of speech, he also believes that “we can expect better”. As such, he argues that there is a need to enhance communication between the government and the public.
Meanwhile Pun pledged to continually strengthen his will to serve the society.
“Not joining the election doesn’t mean my motivation has stopped. I have yet to serve society and find [more] channels to serve them.”
“I want [the public] to know that we’re not just talking about Macau but also [about] responding to global issues. For the AL, there’s not much room to work beyond Macau,” Pun continued.
The social worker believes that the center can develop new services, particularly services that are not supported and funded by the government. These would include issues relating to migrant workers, which are not on the political agenda during elections.
Pun also added that there is still room for improvement regarding the policies of the government towards the basic rights and protection of migrant workers, particularly those in vulnerable positions.
As there is still an absence of protection of rights for these workers, the association is aiming to assist these workers to obtain fair treatment in the region as part of society.
“Macau’s condition should be strong and development should be better. We [already] know how to combat property [matters] and serve those people with mobility problems, but [there are] people working in society, such as the migrants, who are being ignored,” Pun explained.
“They’ll just come for a few years but they are here to serve society. They must be respected and well treated,” he stressed.
Despite this view, Pun stated his belief that that local government has the capability to respond to this issue, and it could “do better to those who have no right to vote.”
He noted that although there is a lack of attention on the plight of migrant workers, this does not mean that the government is ignoring their existence. Rather, some policies are just not favorable to them.
Migrant worker welfare is only one of the issues Pun is concerned with. He hinted that there are still several areas Macau needs to improve upon in terms of its policies.
When questioned about the services the public could look forward to, the head of Caritas briefly noted, “Hopefully beyond Macau.”
Since Macau is not spending on overseas work except in mainland China, Caritas is working to assist local residents who are supporting organizations or events outside Macau.
This year, Caritas will allocate funds for southern India to support some services and is hoping to be of assistance to more countries, especially in Asia.
