Ron Lam U Tou, the first candidate of campaigning group Synergy of Power, said during yesterday’s press conference that they are sticking with the notion of resolving problems and issues instead of making any particular standpoint their major focus.
“As long as policies are feasible and effective, we will support them,” said Lam. “But if policies from the government don’t consider the welfare of residents, we will disagree,” he emphasised.
However, the group said communication is key, saying that their aim is to approach and understand the needs of different parties and to utilise communication skills to suggest proposals that could be agreed upon by the majority.
Apart from the use of interpellations to understand situations and follow-up cases, Lam advocated direct contact with government departments.
“If there are problems, we are more willing to schedule meetings with the government to discuss matters and to understand matters by our own investigations,” said Lam.
Most of the group’s candidates are journalists; Lam said having held this role previously has enabled him to understand things from different perspectives.
Whilst working as an assistant to a legislator and as a member of the association, he realised that there was more to be done and many difficulties that need to be overcome, saying he hopes to become a legislator in order to roll out more beneficial policies to the city.
Weak supervision
Having worked as a journalist in politics for over a decade, Johnson Ian Heng Ut, the second candidate of the group, opines that the supervisory power of the Legislative Assembly (AL) has so far been too weak.
“Most of these follow-up groups in AL were only concluded with very fragmented information,” said Ian. “It seems the aim is to hold a meeting rather than to hold a meeting to resolve issues.”
As such, part of the group’s plan is to allow for the public to have access to the follow-up groups meetings at the AL.
Revolutions
The group suggests the government improve the coastline from Barra to the Macau Science Center as their first goal. Lam explained that transportation and housing issues have been the main topics for the past decade and that the problems remain unresolved, conceding that they are not easy tasks to be tackled. With that in mind, as well as opinions from the public, the group realised that residents need a place to relax and to reduce stress levels, hence the plan to create a coastline for leisure purposes aimed at satisfying that need.
The group also suggests point-to-point bus services in order to better distribute passengers. Moreover, the group proposes the regular supply of public housing, with 3,000 more public housing units and 2,000 more private flats per year over the coming ten years.
