Ron Lam votes nay on four bills in his first parliamentary year

Lawmaker Ron Lam said he has voted against four bills – partially or completely – in his first year at the parliament.

Last week, the lawmaker held a press conference on his first year as lawmaker in Macau.

Lam stressed that between October 2021 and August 2022, he has not missed a single meeting in the parliament. This equates to 41 plenary meetings, 53 meetings at the Third Standing Committee and five meetings at the Committee for the Follow-up of Public Administration Affairs. He is a member of the two committees.

He also said he had taken time to sit in other committee meetings in which he was not a member, provided the meeting times did not conflict with his own committee meetings.

The four bills on which the lawmaker voted nay were the non-tertiary education law and the higher education law, which were discussed on a single occasion; the 2022 Budget; the gambling law; and the elevator law.

When the Executive was rushing to pass the amended gambling law earlier this year, the lawmaker voted nay during the discussion in general terms, or the First Reading, of the bill. He pointed out the government’s proposal was intended to waive partially or wholly social welfare investments by concessionaires if they manage to attract foreign tourists.

The investments are set by law to be 5% of the year’s gross gambling revenue (GGR).

Lam found this proposal unacceptable because it concerns local welfare.

The unyielding position of the Executive on this proposal triggered the lawmaker to vote nay once again during the discussion on specific terms, or the Second Reading, of the bill. He attributed his move once again to the importance of securing social welfare.

His “nay” vote at the First Reading of the same bill was also based on the fact that the Executive did not provide him with sufficient data and information. Despite his repeated requests for the data, Secretary for Economy and Finance Lei Wai Nong only reiterated that the data would be provided at the committee discussion phase.

The key here, he pointed out, is that committee discussions are not open to the public – not even to the press. Any information disclosed is only available after each committee meeting and the disclosure is made by the committee president. In fact, the president has complete discretion to decide how, and how much, detail on a particular meeting is disclosed.

While highlighting the importance of this law to the city, Lam had said the Executive could not play hide-and-seek with the public on data disclosure. Without sufficient information, he believes it is exceptionally difficult for members of the public to have comprehensive discussions on the matter.

Lam has also made suggestions on improving the relationship between the Executive and the Legislature.

He has suggested the Executive improve the quality of Executive Regulations, especially when they are closely related to a law passed by the parliament, as some such regulations are compiled to clarify or support the promulgation and enactment of their related laws.

A worse situation, the lawmaker added, is that there are a number of laws that have been passed by the parliament that still do not have their auxiliary Executive Regulations, rendering the laws virtually useless.

In response to this situation, the lawmaker suggests the Executive should submit both laws and auxiliary Executive Regulations to the parliament in the future, so that the Legislature will be able to see the picture in its entirety.

He also criticized the Executive for lacking regular communication with the parliament. Therefore, even if lawmakers want to give opinions on a law during its drafting phase, they will have little information to support them.

He also said the Executive, when responding to lawmakers’ inquiries or requests for information, should not put lawmakers off by giving insufficient data, providing irrelevant answers or evading further explanations by stating that an answer has been given in another occasion.

He said lawmakers are vested by law with the power to supervise the governance of the Executive, hinting that officials are required to provide sufficient information. 

In his first year at the parliament, the lawmaker has also submitted 44 written inquiries, made three oral inquiries and 16 pre-agenda speeches, as well as filed 11 requests for data. He has also received 1,178 cases, enquiries and opinions from members of the public. Among them, 553 were made over the phone, 393 over Facebook and 232 over WeChat. Of all the 1,178 cases, 154 or 13% are still being followed up, the lawmaker added.

The topics of these requests were the June 18 Covid-19 outbreak, conflicting disease control measures, economic fluctuations, business difficulties, unemployment and underemployment, as well as real estate transaction conflicts.