The 12 Macaul deputies to the National’s People Congress (NPC) and the 38 local members of the of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) went to Beijing Sunday to take part in the “two sessions” held in the capital every March.
The deputy convener of the local NPC delegates, Lei Pui Lam, told reporters at Macau International Airport that the local NPC deputies would mention various issues that concern both Macau and the mainland, such as medical services, education, the environment and the rich-and-poor gap, as well as the fight against graft.
The NPC is the national legislature whose deputies are elected for a five-year term. The local NPC delegates are elected by a committee made up of 380 members, including the Legislative Assembly (AL) members and members of the Chief Executive Election Committee.
The NPC will start the annual session on Wednesday while the CPPCC will start today.
The 12 local NPC deputies, which were elected in late 2012, include local lawmakers, Executive Council members and civic leaders, whereas the 38 local CCPPC members include Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam Pak Yuen, former Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah, lawmakers, Executive Council members, prominent businessmen and civic leaders. Ho is a vice-chairman of the National Committee of the CPPCC.
Lei is the vice president of the Macau Chinese Educators’ Association, which was established in 1920.
According to The Macau Post Daily, Lei that local NPC deputies had recently collected various opinions from the public, which he said would be part of the suggestions local NPC deputies would make during the upcoming session.
Lei said that among various topics about Macau the local NPC deputies would focus on were the rising number of people passing through the city’s border checkpoints, the diversification of the local economy, mainland tourists visiting Macau and co-operation between Macau and Hengqin Island .
When asked if the local NPC deputies will make any suggestions about Macau ’s capacity to receive tourists, Lei said that the topic would be one they planned to discuss. Lei said that “the deputies will make reasonable suggestions [about the issue] after analysing the opinions they got earlier”.
The 38 CPPCC local deputies will return to Macau on Wednesday next week with the 12 NPC deputies coming back the following day.(macaunews)
