Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai has urged all members of the new, eighth term of the Macau Special Administrative Region’s (MSAR) Legislative Assembly (AL), which started on Thursday, to further enhance the legislature’s three major roles, namely exercising political leadership, carrying out legislative and oversight duties, and serving as a crucial bridge between the government and the public.
Sam made the remarks during a meeting with the lawmakers on Thursday evening after the new legislative term’s first plenary session in the afternoon that day. The Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS) announced Sam’s meeting in a statement on Thursday night.
The statement did not mention where the meeting was held.
During Thursday’s plenary session, André Cheong Weng Chon, a newcomer to the Legislative Assembly after serving as the MSAR’s secretary for Administration and Justice between December 20, 2019 and Wednesday, October 15, 2025, was elected by his peers as the legislature’s president unanimously.
Cheong, 59, is one of the seven members whom Sam appointed to the 33-member Legislative Assembly, which comprises 14 deputies directly elected by universal suffrage, 12 deputies indirectly elected by association representatives, and seven deputies appointed by the chief executive after the direct and indirect elections.
During Thursday’s plenary session in the hemicycle, indirectly-elected lawmaker Alan Ho Ion Sang was elected, also unanimously, as the legislature’s vice-president.
Alan Ho, who had been a directly-elected lawmaker since 2009, became an indirectly-elected legislator four years ago representing the social services and educational sector. He was re-elected last month.
Delivering a speech during the meeting, according to the GCS statement, Sam underlined that the MSAR government attaches great importance to further strengthening its communication and coordination with the legislature, consolidating the MSAR’s constitutional order and its executive-led system, and enhancing its governance capabilities and efficiency.
Sam noted that last month’s direct and indirect elections of the MSAR’s 8th Legislative Assembly were the first held after last year’s amendments to the Legislative Assembly Election Law, which has further consolidated the implementation of the “patriots governing Macau” principle through improvements in the legal system.
Sam said that last month’s legislative elections were also an important political event since his government took office in December last year. He said that the elections were held in a fair, impartial, open and clean manner, vividly demonstrating high-quality democracy under the “One Country, Two Systems” principle, and having profound significance for Macau’s future development.
Sam noted that the new term of the legislature has been joined by “energetic” and young newcomers, apart from having long-serving legislators with extensive experience. Consequently, he said, the legislature now features a “more rational” composition, with its members from more diverse backgrounds, fully demonstrating the legislature’s broader representation, and higher comprehensive quality of its members.
Sam also underlined that with the aim of better enabling his government to meet the changes in Macau’s development needs, he chose the seven appointed legislators for the new term of the legislature, representing a significant reform aiming to better leverage the institutional advantages brought about by the MSAR’s executive-led system and deepen positive interaction between the executive, legislative and judicial organs.
According to the statement, Sam also quoted President Xi Jinping as pointing out that the implementation of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle has entered a new phase. Sam said that both the Central People’s Government and Macau residents have high expectations for the new-term Legislative Assembly.
The chief executive pledged that his government will work closely with the legislature to put special emphasis on Macau’s economic development, improvements in residents’ well-being, and the promotion of social harmony, while jointly providing stronger legal guarantees for promoting Macau’s high-quality development and the Macau-Hengqin development.
Sam’s 3 hopes for legislature
According to the statement, Sam raised three hopes for the members of the new-term legislature.
First, Sam said, the legislature should further enhance its role in exercising political leadership.
The legislature, Sam said, should comprehensively, accurately and unswervingly implement the principles of “One Country, Two Systems”, “Macau people governing Macau”, and a high degree of autonomy, while resolutely safeguarding the nation’s sovereignty, security and development interests.
The legislature should also fulfil its duties with dedication and demonstrate a sense of shouldering responsibilities, while promoting the spirit of patriotism and love for Macau, upholding the tradition of inclusiveness and harmony, and maintaining Macau’s long-term prosperity and stability in collaboration with the government, the chief executive said.
Second, Sam said, the legislature should further enhance its role in carrying out legislative and oversight duties.
Sam said that the legislature should be committed to fulfilling its legislative functions and duties and those to monitor the government’s work conferred by the nation’s Constitution and the MSAR Basic Law. The legislature should leverage its professionalism in order to collaborate with the executive organ in advancing legal reforms aligned with Macau’s important development goals, including appropriate economic diversification and public administration reform.
Third, Sam said, the legislature should further enhance its role in serving as a crucial bridge between the government and the public.
Sam said that the legislature should leverage its broad representativeness in order to better gather, sort out and express public opinion, with the aim of fostering rational, objective and constructive public sentiment.
The legislature should propose sound policies and effective measures to improve the city’s social welfare grounded in its long-term sustainable development, while also building the broadest consensus in civil society to support the government in implementing major initiatives, thereby laying a solid foundation for Macau’s socioeconomic development in the long term.
Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai addresses Thursday evening’s meeting with all members of the new-term Legislative Assembly (AL). – Photo: GCS
