Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng is taking 13 consecutive days of holiday, which started on Friday and ends next Wednesday, according to an executive order published in the Official Gazette (BO) on Friday.
According to the order, which was signed by Ho on Thursday, Secretary for Administration and Justice André Cheong Weng Chon is acting chief executive during Ho’s ongoing 13-day holiday.
According to official records Ho, who took office on December 20, 2019, did not take any holiday during the three-year COVID-19 pandemic from 2020 through 2022. Since assuming office, Ho took a holiday for the first time last year, for just three days at the end of April.
Before his current holiday, Ho had a holiday twice earlier this year – two days in late April and two days early this month, according to the gazette.
Consequently, including his ongoing 13-day holiday, Ho has so far been on vacation for a mere 20 days in total since assuming office.
Ho’s current five-year term at the helm of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) government ends on December 19 this year. Ho, 67, has still to announce whether he intends to run for a new five-year term. According to Article 48 the MSAR Basic Law, the chief executive of the MSAR may serve for not more than two consecutive terms.
Comparison with predecessor
Ho’s predecessor Fernando Chui Sai On, who took office on December 20, 2014 for his second chief-executive term, took holidays lasting 22, 18, 34, 31, and 18 days a year, respectively, from 2015 to 2019, according to calculations by the Post based on historical records published in the gazette. Consequently, Chui took holidays of 123 days in total during his second five-year chief-executive term, or 24.6 days a year on average.
During his second five-year chief-executive term, Chui took his longest holiday of nine days, from late July to early August in 2016, according to the gazette.
This file photo taken last week shows Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng talking to Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) journalists from the mainland, Hong Kong and some local media at Government Headquarters in Nam Van at that time. – Photo courtesy of TDM
