The newly appointed vice-president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), Cheang Kai Meng, pledged yesterday that he will place special emphasis on enriching the “humanistic connotation” of Macau’s role as an exchange and cooperation base of multiple cultures’ co-existence with the Chinese culture as the mainstream.
Cheang made the remarks during his swearing-in ceremony at the Macau Culture Centre (CCM) in Nape, according to an IC statement yesterday.
The Cultural Affairs Bureau has two vice-presidents in its organisational structure.
According to an executive order published in the Official Gazette (BO) last week, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U, who oversees the bureau, has appointed Cheang as a vice-president of the bureau for a one-year term effective from yesterday.
The bureau is currently headed by Leong Wai Man, who became the bureau’s president on February 1 last year, after having been a vice president of the bureau since January 2018.
The other vice-president of the bureau, Cheong Lai San, took office in July 2020.
Before Cheang’s appointment took effect yesterday, one of the bureau’s two vice-president positions had been left vacant since Leong became the bureau’s president in February last year.
Cheang was sworn in by Ao Ieong during yesterday’s ceremony.
According to the statement, Cheang said during yesterday’s ceremony that the Cultural Affairs Bureau will continue to promote cultural exchanges and cooperation between Macau and various other regions, as well as the inheritance and development of traditional Chinese culture. In addition, he said, the bureau will continue to create more iconic cultural brands of Macau.
Cheang pledged that he will work closely with the bureau’s team to make full use of Macau’s advantage as a place where the Chinese and Western cultures are integrated.
According to last week’s executive order about his appointment, Cheang holds a bachelor’s degree in Sports Science from the then Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM), which is now the Macao Polytechnic University (MPU), as well as a master’s degree in Sociology of Sport from Xi’an Physical Education University.
Cheang joined the public administration in 1989 when he started to work for the then Municipal Council under Portuguese administration, which was converted into the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) and the current Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) after the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) in December 1999.
Cheang started to work in the Cultural Affairs Bureau in 2016.
Newly-appointed Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) Vice President Cheang Kai Meng (right) is sworn in by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U (second from left) at the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM) in Nape, witnessed by the chief-of-cabinet of Ao Ieong’s office, Ho Ioc San (first from left), and IC President Leong Wai Man. – Photo: IC
