Vong Hin Fai succeeds Neto Valente at AAM

Vong Hin Fai, AAM president-elect

Lawyer, lawmaker, and Macau delegate to the National People’s Congress, Vong Hin Fai has been elected the new president of the Macau Lawyers Association (AAM), replacing Jorge Neto Valente who had served 24 years in the post.

In a single-list election late Tuesday evening, Vong was elected as the new president of the AAM’s board of directors with 293 of the 321 votes.

As previously reported by the Times, Vong’s candidacy also included the names of Oriana Pun, who was elected the new AAM secretary general, and Leonel Alves, who was elected the general assembly’s new president.

The new AAM board of directors includes Álvaro Rodrigues, Chao Sio Ngan, Susana de Souza So, Chau Seng Chon and Chang San Chi, among others.

Ending an over 20 years stint at the helm of the AAM, Neto Valente refused to evaluate his work saying that was a task for others. He expressed a hope the new board of directors would be able to unite the lawyers’ professional class. He said no one can perform such a task alone. To do a good job, the new president needs to find support not only from board members but from all the association’s members, he said.

Neto Valente said it was a positive that during his term there were different voices and opinions in the association. Nonetheless, he said it is most important to keep the association free of individual political views to maintain stability.

In a recent interview with TDM on the sidelines of an event where the University of Saint Joseph conferred an honorary doctorate on him, he said it was important to avoid major conflicts because these can cause some to become disengaged which is contrary to the purposes of the AAM.