Chief Executive-designate Sam Hou Fai, who will take office on Friday, has appointed the members of his top advisory Executive Council (ExCo), comprising five re-appointees and six newcomers.
The Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS) announced the list of the 11 ExCo members of the incoming sixth-term government of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) in a statement on Friday, when the bureau also published a separate statement about their respective CVs.
Sam, 62, will become the MSAR’s sixth-term and fourth chief executive on December 20, the 25th Anniversary of Macau’s return to the motherland.
Sam, his nine principal officials, and chief public prosecutor will be sworn in by President Xi Jinping on Friday. Xi will pay a three-day visit to Macau starting on Wednesday.
The 11 ExCo members of the incoming government will be sworn in by Sam on Friday this week.
The five reappointed ExCo members are André Cheong Weng Chon, the current government’s secretary for administration and justice who has been reappointed to Sam’s incoming administration, as well as lawyer and former legislator Leonel Alberto Alves, lawmaker-cum-restaurateur Andrew Chan Chak Mo, businessman Frederico Ma Chi Ngai, and educator John Chan Ka Leong.
According to Article 50 (8) of the MSAR Basic Law, it is the chief executive who appoints or removes ExCo members. Article 56 states that the council “shall be an organ for assisting the chief executive in policymaking”, while Article 57 states that the councillors shall be Chinese citizens who are permanent residents of the MSAR.
According to Article 57 of the MSAR Basic Law, the council shall be composed of 7 to 11 members, who are chosen by the chief executive from among the government’s principal officials, lawmakers and community representatives.
The up to 11 members of the Executive Council do not include the chief executive.
According to Article 58 of the MSAR Basic Law, the council shall be presided over by the chief executive, while it shall hold at least one meeting a month.
According to Article 58, the chief executive shall consult the Executive Council before making important policy decisions, submitting bills to the Legislative Assembly (AL), drawing up administrative regulations, or dissolving the Legislative Assembly, except for the appointment, removal and disciplining of officials and the adoption of measures in emergencies.
The current-term Executive Council, chaired by outgoing Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng, also comprises 11 members.
According to Friday’s GCS announcements, the six newcomers to the Executive Council are 1) lawmaker-cum-banker Ip Sio Kai, 2) Lao Ngai Leong, a veteran community leader of the city’s returned overseas Chinese community, 3) Leong Wai Fong, a vice-chairman of the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (commonly known as Gung Luen), 4) legislator Becky Song Pek Kei, also a community leader of the city’s sizeable Fujianese community, 5) economist Samuel Tong Kai Chung, 6) U Seng Pan, a well-known microelectronics entrepreneur and expert.
Song will be the only female in the incoming-term Executive Council, while its current 11 members are all males.
Song, 39, is also the youngest among the 11 ExCo members of the incoming government.
Ip Sio Kai, 64, a vice-president of the Bank of China (BOC) Macau Branch, headed Sam’s election campaign office when Sam was running in the chief executive election earlier this year. Ip has been an indirectly-elected lawmaker representing the city’s business sector since 2017.
Ip, born in Macau, is understood to be succeeding Chao Weng Hou on the council. Chao became an ExCo member in December 2019 when he worked in the BOC Macau Branch.
Lao Ngai Leong, 67, a descendant of overseas Chinese in Indonesia, is a veteran National People’s Congress (NPC) deputy from Macau.
Lao, born in Guangzhou, is the permanent chairman of the Macau Association of Returned Overseas Chinese. He is known to be familiar with matters, measures and policies concerning the operations of mainland-Macau border checkpoints.
Leong Wai Fong, 48, born in Macau, is a social worker by profession. Leong is understood to be succeeding Jimmy Lee Chong Cheng, who became an ExCo member in December 2019 when he was a Gung Luen vice-president. Lee, a former lawmaker, is Gung Luen’s current president.
Becky Song Pek Kei, 39, has been a directly-elected lawmaker since 2013. Song, born in Macau, is understood to be succeeding Zhang Zongzhen, who became an ExCo member in December 2019. Zhang is a businessman and community leader of the city’s sizeable Fujianese community.
Samuel Tong Kai Chung, 59, is the president of the Macau Institute of Management (MIM), one of the city’s higher education institutions. Tong, born in Hong Kong, holds a doctoral degree in Economics from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.
Tong is understood to be succeeding Ieong Tou Hong, who became an ExCo member in December 2019. Ieong is also an economist.
U Seng Pan, 54, holds a doctoral degree in Electronics Engineering from the University of Macau (UM).
U, born in Shanghai, currently heads a number of microelectronics tech companies. He is one of the co-founders of the State Key Laboratory of Analog and Mixed-Signal VLSI Very-large-scale integration run by the University of Macau.
The other ExCo members who have not been reappointed are Peter Lam Kam Seng and Iau Teng Pio.
Lam heads the government-fully-owned Macau Urban Renewal Limited (MUR), while Iau is an associate professor of the University of Macau’s Faculty of Law. Iau is a former legislator.
In the first-term MSAR government, all five policy secretaries were appointed as members of the Executive Council. Since the second-term government, only the secretary for administration and justice has been appointed to the council.
