Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On has appointed 11 officials and community leaders to his top advisory body, the Executive Council (ExCo) – only two being newcomers while the remainder are sitting members, according to an ExCo statement yesterday.
Chui will head the government for another five-year term which starts on Saturday next week. Thus the 11 ExCo members, who give Chui their views and advice on public policies and discuss the bills and by-laws drafted by the government, will take up their posts next Saturday as well.
According to the statement, the 11 members are: Andrew Chan Chak Mo, Chan Meng Kam, Cheang Chi Keong, Eddie Wong Yue Kai, Ho Sut Heng, Leong Heng Teng, Leonel Alberto Alves, Liu Chak Wan, Ma Iao Lai, Peter Lam Kam Seng, and Sonia Chan Hoi Fan.
Apart from 63-year-old lawmaker-cum-businessman Andrew Chan and 50-year-old Secretary for Administration and Justice-designate Sonia Chan, the remainder are current ExCo members.
Sonia Chan is the outgoing director of the Personal Data Protection Office (GPDP).
Sonia Chan is the council’s only ex-officio member.
Secretary for Administration and Justice Florinda Chan Lai Man, who will leave her position as policy secretary next week, is one of the two outgoing ExCo members. Florinda Chan will retire as she has reached the maximum number of years as a civil servant can work in the public administration, according an informed source.
Another outgoing ExCo member is 52-year-old Secretary for Economy and Finance-designate Lionel Leong Vai Tac who reportedly has handed his private business interests to a trust registered in the British Virgin Islands to become one of the government’s five policy secretaries.
Among the 11 members, four are lawmakers: Andrew Chan, managing director of Future Bright Restaurant Enterprises; Cheang, 62, a senior consultant to the local branch of Bank of China (BOC); and Alves, a 57-year-old lawyer. The trio are indirectly-elected lawmakers. The other is 52-year-old directly-elected lawmaker-cum-businessman Chan Meng Kam, widely seen as the de facto leader of Macau’s sizeable Fujianese community.
The other ExCo members include 67-year-old Leong Heng Teng, the council’s current spokesman. He is a former chairman of the Macau General Union of Neighbourhood Associations (commonly known as Kai Fong).
Ho, 55, chairs the Macau Federation of Trade Unions (commonly known as Gung Luen). Ma, 66, heads the Macau Chamber of Commerce (ACM). He is a son of late business community leader Ma Man Kei.
Wong, 62, is an architect who heads the Macau Red Cross.
Liu, 64, is a developer and chancellor of the private Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST). Lam, 65, is a businessman and vice-chairman of the Macau Chamber of Commerce.
Chui said in the statement he believed the 11 ExCo members would do their best to serve society.(macaunews/macaupost)
