Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon reaffirmed yesterday that while the government decided earlier this year to reduce the expenses of its various public entities, it will “certainly” not reduce its expenditure on residents’ welfare and public servants’ salaries and fringe benefits.
Cheong made the remarks at the start of yesterday’s Executive Council press conference in response to a wave of rumours claiming that the government would reduce public servants’ salaries and stop paying them their Christmas allowance.
Cheong pointed out that in response to the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Macau’s economy, the government has decided to reduce public entities’ “unnecessary” administrative expenditures.
Cheong pointed out that Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng has clearly said that the government will not reduce its spending on welfare for residents and public servants’ salaries and “the benefits they deserve to receive”, and that the public entities’ reduced spending will not affect the services run by the public administration.
Cheong noted that the city’s civil servants have remained firmly at their posts to carry out their COVID-19 prevention and control work and “selflessly” dedicated themselves to the fight against the epidemic, which has been widely praised and recognised by Macau residents.
Cheong also urged residents not to believe untrue rumours with ulterior motives.
National security law ‘needs to be improved’
Meanwhile, Cheong also said that the Macau government believes that there is a need to improve the city’s legal framework for safeguarding national society. Cheong said that the local government was studying what kinds of legislation it would need to propose to improve the legal framework regulating national security.
Cheong pointed out that Macau enacted its national security law – the Law on the Defence of National Security based on the Article 23 requirement of the Macau Basic Law – back in 2009, and established the Commission on the Defence of National Security of the Macau Special Administrative Region in 2018. Cheong underlined that nevertheless the city’s supplementary regulations for the enforcement of the local national security law would still need to be improved.
Responding to media questions, Cheong said that it would be up to the central government as to whether to set up an office for safeguarding national security in Macau. Such an office was set up in Hong Kong earlier this month.
