Only about 40 percent of 959 young and middle-aged respondents said that they were very satisfied or satisfied with Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On’s 2013 Policy Address, according to a survey released Wednesday.
The survey also found that about 52 percent of the respondents said that the “welfare measures” stated in Chui’s policy guidelines were just “so-so”.
Three representatives from a youth policies study group of the Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations(UGAMM, generally known as Kai Fong), including Leong Pou Ieng who is a vice-director of Kai Fong’s Youth AffairsCommittee, jointly presided over yesterday’s press conference to announce the findings of the survey.
The survey, aimed at gauging local youths’ opinions about Chui’s policy guidelines delivered earlier this month, was conducted by the committee over the weekends following Chu’s Policy Address on November 13 with 959 respondents completing the questionnaires.
All respondents, aged between 18 and 45 years, were interviewed in the street in the peninsula, Taipa and Colane.
According to the findings quoted by The Macau Post Daily today, about 35.5 percent of all respondents said they weresatisfied with Chui’s policy guidelines while about 4.7 percent said that they were very satisfied with it, about 46.7 percent thought that Chui’s policy guidelines were “so-so”, while about 8.8 percent said that they were unsatisfied and about 4.1 percent refused to comment.
According to the representatives, this was the fourth time that the group has carried out a similar survey. Comparing to the findings of the survey conducted last year, four percent more respondents this year said that they were satisfied with Chui’s policy guidelines while the dissatisfaction increased by nearly two percent.
The survey defined “welfare measures” as comprising the government’s “wealth-sharing” cash handout scheme, theresumption of the application process for public housing flats, the increase in old-age allowances and pensions, and households’ electricity bill subsidy.
Beijing asked about the “welfare measures”, about 52 percent of all respondents said that the measures were “so-so”,while only about 34 percent said that they were satisfied or very satisfied. Almost nine percent said they were unsatisfied with the government’s “welfare measures”.
According to the findings, most respondents were most satisfied with the government’s “wealth-sharing” cash handout scheme.
According to the government 2013 policy blueprint, all permanent residents will receive a cash handout of 8,000 patacas next year, up from 7,000 patacas this year; non-permanent residents will receive 4,800 patacas, up from 4,200 patacas this year.
Regarding the findings in which about 46.7 percent of respondents thought that Chui’s 2013 policy guidelines were just “so-so”, Leong said that it could be because most of the respondents were now so used to the government’s short-term measures mainly involving giving out cash that they were not impressed with them anymore.(macaunews)
