Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On said yesterday he believes that the president-designate of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), Cecilia Tse Heng Sai, is “capable” of working in her new position as she has extensive work experience in the public administration and sound managerial skills.
Chui made the remarks while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the annual “Walk for a Million” charity event in Nape.
Tse, one of the two vice-directors of the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), is to succeed Leung Hio Ming who resigned last week to hold himself accountable for the massive hiring fiasco at the Cultural Affairs Bureau which was revealed by the Commission Against Corruption (CCAC) in March.
Chan Peng Fai also resigned as vice-president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau last week over the bureau’s hiring fiasco. The bureau has two vice-presidents.
Leung succeeded Guilherme Ung Vai Meng as the bureau’s president when the latter retired in February.
Also speaking to the media on the sidelines of the march, Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Alexis Tam Chon Weng said that the president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau was not necessarily required to have a background in cultural affairs.
The Secretariat for Social Affairs and Culture (GSASC) said in a statement on Thursday that the result of disciplinary proceedings launched in April against Ung, Leung and Chan determined that the trio were to be suspended for 60 days, 45 days and 10 days respectively for being accountable for the bureau having hired a large number of staff on “unjustified” acquisition of services (AoS) contracts between 2010 and 2015 – as disclosed by a CCAC report.
The GSASC statement also said that both Leung and Chan had meanwhile requested the “termination of their appointments” as the bureau’s president and vice-president which their superior – Tam – quickly accepted. The duo’s resignations took effect “right away”, according to the statement.
The GSASC statement said that Tam proposed to Chui that Tse be appointed as the president of the bureau.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Chui said he decided to appoint Tse as the new president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau after considering Tam’s suggestion.
Chui said that Tam proposed Tse’s appointment as the new culture chief after Tam had carefully considered Tse’s academic qualifications, work experience in the public administration and her management skills, adding that he agreed with Tam’s suggestion.
According to the Official Gazette (BO), Tse, who was appointed as one of the MGTO vice-directors in early 2013, holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Macau (UM) and a master’s degree in Management from Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou. She joined the tourism office in 1992.
When questioned by the media whether Tse, who does not have a cultural affairs background, is qualified for the new job, Chui replied there were two types of “management philosophy” – one was that an entity is headed by someone with managerial skills and his or her subordinates carry out their professional duties, while the other is that the head of an entity is a professional with extensive managerial experience.
When questioned by a reporter about claims that Tse is Chui’s “goddaughter”, Chui replied that he knows many people in Macau and that he does not have a “goddaughter”. Chui denied that he has appointed someone – Tse – who is close to his family. He added that such claims were unfair to Tse. He urged citizens to only comment on Tse’s performance after she takes up her new post.
Chui also said that he had not proposed that Tse be appointed as the new president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau.
Also speaking to reporters, Tam noted that Tse has been working in the public administration for more than 20 years and that she has been in leadership positions for more than 10 years. He added that Tse is fluent in Chinese and Portuguese.
Tam also said that the other vice-president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau – Ieong Chi Kin – has been in his position for only a short time. He also said that – after the two resignations – as there was no-one suitable at the Cultural Affairs Bureau to take up the position of president, he decided to appoint Tse for the post after careful consideration.
Ieong was appointed vice-president of the Cultural Affairs Bureau in the middle of February.
Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On speaks to reporters on the sidelines of the “Walk for a Million” charity event in Nape yesterday. Photo: Joel Chu
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