Macau Polytechnic Institute (IPM) Professor Ieong Wan Chong said Wednesday there was still “much room” for the government to improve its governance, particularly in moving towards science-based public administration.
Ieong, a local expert on the “One Country, Two Systems” principle who is also a former local deputy to the National People Congress (NPC), made the remarks to reporters before a seminar about the implementation of the principle, at the private City University of Macau in Nape. The university is owned by directly-elected lawmaker-com-businessman Chan Meng Kam.
Ieong, 81, is a former director of the IPM’s One Country, Two Systems Research Centre. He has authored many books and articles on Macau’s political system.
Several dozen students and teaching staff from the university attended the seminar which lasted about two hours.
Talking to reporters, Ieong said that compared to the Hong Kong government its local counterpart has gained a great deal of support from its citizens as there has been an improvement in their livelihoods and the way it governs.
“However, the [local] government should do more to move towards science-based administration,” Ieong said, adding that the government’s recent announcement, in which the original development proposal for a major land reclamation project – Zone A – was changed without prior notice by increasing the number of flats to be built there, was an example of a government plan not backed by scientific research.
Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On announced the new development plan last month.
Zone A off the peninsula’s north-eastern coast is currently being reclaimed.(macaunews/macaupost)
