Macao legislature to step up supervision of SAR government
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The Legislative Assembly of Macao will better supervise the implementation of important policies and regulations by the regional government, according to a member of the special administrative region's legislature.
"The newly-elected Legislative Assembly has set up three committees to monitor the implementation of policies regarding land, finance and administrative reform," Lee Chong Cheng, a member of the Legislative Assembly, told China.org.cn in an exclusive interview on December 7.
The fourth term of the Macao Legislative Assembly, consisting of 29 members, was sworn in this October and will sit for four years.
The legislative assembly is urging the government to address problems in land supply and government procurement, according to Lee.
"We still have many loopholes in land supply and government procurement," said Lee, without elaborating. "The new committees are part of our efforts to improve communication with the government, plug loopholes and build a cleaner government."
Lee also urges the government to step up legislative reform.
"As a member of the legislative assembly, I have come across many practices and policies that, though legal, are not conducive to the development of Macao," he said. "Macao lags behind in the formulation of new laws. We need to step up our efforts in this regard and formulate laws that conform to Macao's social development."
The government has set up a roadmap for administrative and legislative reform, according to Lee, but he said the reforms have so far not touched upon important and sensitive issues such as immigrant workers, development of human resources, and the judicial system.
Lee identified human resources as a crucial factor in the acceleration of Macao's legislative reform.
"The government doesn't make the best use of law graduates," said Lee.
In Macao, Portuguese is still the dominant language in legal matters, as the island city used to be a Portuguese colony and was only returned to China in 1999.
The language issue has delayed Macao's law development, according to Lee.
"More than 90 percent of the residents in Macao are Chinese and we need laws that Chinese can understand in order to enhance the efficiency and quality of our judicial service," he said. "We need people who know local laws but are not necessarily good Portuguese speakers. If we require them to be proficient in both Chinese and Portuguese, this will significantly slow down the pace of development of law professionals."
