Cecilia Tse is new IC head, Leung resigns

Leung Hio Ming resigned

Deputy director of the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO), Cecilia Tse, will become the new director of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), according to a statement from the Office of the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture.

Alexis Tam is said to have proposed the nomination to Chief Executive (CE) Chui Sai On. Tam’s office explained that the changes in the IC presidency are a direct result of the March report from the Commission Against Corruption highlighting several unlawful hiring practices at the IC. The report was issued just weeks after a leadership change at the IC, in which former president Ung Vai Meng quit unexpectedly and was replaced by Leung Hio Ming, until then one of the bureau’s former vice presidents.

Shortly after the report, it was announced that disciplinary proceedings had commenced against members of the board of the IC – specifically against Ung Vai Meng, Leung Hio Ming and Chan Peng Fai – for breaching the law governing public tenders and the unauthorized use of the government’s centralized recruitment system. The system was used without mandatory authorization and supervision of the superior body.
The breaches allowed services under the IC to recruit a large number of employees through this direct attribution system for over five years (between 2010 and 2015).

According to the statement, IC president Leung Hio Ming and vice president Chan Peng Fai have submitted an application to terminate the service commission, which was accepted by secretary Tam with immediate effect.

In the statement, Alexis Tam is quoted saying, “Compliance with the principles of legality, fairness and good administrative management make it absolutely imperative and indispensable that the public recruitment regime be fully respected.” He expressed wishes “that these changes will restore the credibility that affected the entity as well as to present a new dynamic in the management of the bureau.”