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Politics
Profiles tagged “Politics”.
13 profiles
Ma Iao Lai: succeeding Ma Man Kei, the generational bridge between Macao's Chinese Chamber and Beijing
Ma Iao Lai
Honorary Chairman of the Macau Chinese Chamber of Commerce and a long-serving deputy to the National People's Congress — one of the most prominent bridges between the Macao business community and Beijing's policy system. Born into a Macao merchant family, he succeeded Ma Man Kei and other senior chamber leaders in that intermediary role.
Kou Hoi In: from labour-union ranks to President of the Legislative Assembly
Kou Hoi In
Former President of the Legislative Assembly of Macao (2019–2025). A long-serving lawmaker with roots in education and the labour-union movement, he led legislation on welfare, labour rights, and Basic Law interpretation across two terms.
Edmund Ho Hau Wah: architect of the first decade after the handover
Edmund Ho Hau Wah
The 1st Chief Executive of the Macao SAR (1999–2009). Son of Ho Yin and former chairman of Tai Fung Bank. His decade defined post-handover Macao through the 2002 liberalisation of gaming, explosive growth, and the credibility of "One Country, Two Systems" in the territory.
Ho Iat Seng: the industrial heir who led Macao through COVID and gaming reform
Ho Iat Seng
The 5th Chief Executive of the Macao SAR (2019-2024). From the Ho Tin Industrial family, he moved through business associations, the NPC Standing Committee, and the presidency of the Legislative Assembly before leading Macao through COVID-19, the gaming-concession reset, Hengqin integration, and post-pandemic recovery.
Fernando Chui Sai On: from public-health scholar to handover-anniversary Chief Executive
Fernando Chui Sai On
The 3rd Chief Executive of the Macao SAR (2009–2019). A public-health PhD by training, he previously served as Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture. His decade saw debates over economic diversification and the 20th anniversary of Macao's handover.
Tam Vai Man: from IACM to the Environmental Protection Bureau and now the Transport and Public Works portfolio — a 36-year engineer-administrator
Tam Vai Man
Secretary for Transport and Public Works of the Macao SAR since 20 December 2024. Born in Macao in 1960, he holds a BSc in Civil Engineering with an Urban Planning minor from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, a Master of Laws in Public Administration from Sun Yat-sen University, and an MSc in Civil Engineering (Environmental and Hydraulic) from the University of Macau. He joined the Macao Municipal Council in 1988 and rose through the civic-administration apparatus to chair the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (IACM) Management Committee from 2007 to March 2016, then served as Director of the Environmental Protection Bureau (DSPA) until December 2024 — concurrently as acting Director of the Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau (SMG) for a year after Typhoon Hato (September 2017 – September 2018). As Secretary he oversees land, public works, transport, housing, maritime affairs and water, and cartography, and chairs the Urban Renewal Committee — handling the Hengqin LRT line, the Qingmao checkpoint, the Urban Master Plan revision, urban renewal, taxi and ride-hailing legislation, and the new Maritime Areas Law.
Angela Leong: from the dance studio to SJM's boardroom and the Legislative Assembly
Angela Leong
Co-Chair & Executive Director of SJM Holdings and a long-serving member of the Macao Legislative Assembly. The fourth wife of Stanley Ho, she is the most politically visible heir in the Ho family — bridging SJM's casino operations with public-affairs work.
Sam Hou Fai: the first jurist to walk from Macao's top court into Government House
Sam Hou Fai
The 6th Chief Executive of the Macao SAR, sworn in by President Xi Jinping on 20 December 2024. Born to a farming family in Zhongshan, Guangdong; trained at Peking University Law and the University of Coimbra; first President of Macao's Court of Final Appeal for almost twenty-five years from 1999, where he presided over the Ao Man Long and Ho Chio Meng corruption trials. The first Macao Chief Executive drawn from the judiciary, he has anchored his first term in rule of law, public-administration reform, and economic diversification.
André Cheong Weng Chon: from Legal Affairs Bureau to Legislative Assembly President — Macao's cross-branch lawyer-technocrat
Cheong Weng Chon
President of the 8th Legislative Assembly of the Macao SAR since 16 October 2025. Born in Beijing in 1966, he holds a Portuguese BA from Beijing Foreign Studies University and an LL.B. from the University of Macau, and built his career in Macao's legal-affairs system — Director of the Legal Affairs Bureau for 14 years (2000–2014), Commissioner Against Corruption for five (2014–2019), and Secretary for Administration and Justice for almost six (December 2019 – October 2025), concurrently spokesperson of the Executive Council, chair of the 2022 Gaming Concession Public Tender Committee, and Executive Deputy Director of the Hengqin Cooperation Zone Management Committee. Reassigned by State Council decree in September 2025 as a CE-appointed legislator, he was elected President of the Legislative Assembly with a unanimous 33-vote ballot on 16 October 2025 — the first sitting Macao Secretary in SAR history to cross from the cabinet to lead the legislature, and the first appointed (not directly or indirectly elected) member to chair the Assembly.
Wong Sio Chak: from Judiciary Police chief to Secretary for Administration and Justice — Macao's longest-running enforcer
Wong Sio Chak
Secretary for Administration and Justice of the Macao SAR since October 2025, after almost eleven years as Secretary for Security (2014–2025) under three Chief Executives. A former prosecutor and Director of the Judiciary Police with a Peking University law doctorate, he drove civil-protection reform after Typhoon Hato (2017), the Suncity junket crackdown (2021), and the 2023 National Security Law overhaul. He served as Acting Chief Executive during Sam Hou Fai's first Beijing duty visit in December 2025 and is widely treated as the de facto number-two of the current SAR cabinet.
Tai Kin Ip: 16 months — the shortest-serving Secretary for Economy and Finance in MSAR history
Tai Kin Ip
Served as Secretary for Economy and Finance of the 6th-term Macao SAR Government from 20 December 2024 to 16 April 2026 — 16 months, the shortest tenure in that portfolio since the SAR was established; removed by State Council decree on Sam Hou Fai's recommendation, citing "personal reasons". Joined the Macao Economic Services (DSE) in 1995 and spent his entire 29-year career to 2024 inside the bureau, rising from senior technician to head of research, deputy director, and director (April 2016 to December 2024, including the 2021 reorganisation into the Economic and Technological Development Bureau / DSEDT); concurrently chaired the Industrial and Commercial Development Fund. As Secretary, he was the technical architect of the 2022 gaming-concession tender outcomes, drove the first review of concessionaires' non-gaming investment obligations (March 2025), oversaw the satellite-casino closures and the 5,600+ employee redeployment, and from November 2025 concurrently led the Hengqin Cooperation Zone Executive Committee. In February 2026 he announced the MOP 11 billion seed (targeting MOP 20 billion) Macao Government Industrial Guidance Fund. Bachelor of Economics from the Universidade Católica Portuguesa; Master in Government Studies from the University of Saint Joseph.
Chan Tsz King: from CCAC Commissioner to Prosecutor-General to Secretary for Security — Sam Hou Fai's mid-term reshuffle pick
Chan Tsz King
Secretary for Security of the Macao SAR since 16 October 2025, succeeding Wong Sio Chak (who moved to Administration and Justice) in Sam Hou Fai's mid-term reshuffle. Born in Hong Kong in 1970, he holds an LL.B. from the Autonomous University of Lisbon and graduated from Macao's first Magistrates Training Course in 1997. He spent almost 22 years in the Public Prosecutions Office — as prosecutor (from July 1997), Assistant Prosecutor-General (from March 2000), and posted to the Court of Final Appeal / Second Instance Court office (from January 2012). On 20 December 2019 he was appointed Commissioner Against Corruption (CCAC) for a 5-year statutory term; on 20 December 2024 Sam Hou Fai nominated him Prosecutor-General, a role he held for only 10 months. By State Council decree on 29 September 2025 he was elevated to Secretary for Security and sworn in on 16 October 2025; he oversees the Judiciary Police, the Public Security Police, Customs, the Fire Services Bureau, the Correctional Services Bureau, and the Macao Security Forces Higher School.
O Lam: from the Sports Bureau to the cabinet — the "newcomer who is more of a veteran" with a Macao patriotic-family lineage
O Lam
Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture of the Macao SAR since 20 December 2024 and at 50 the youngest of Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai's five principal officials. She holds an LL.B. in International Economics & Finance from Jinan University (Guangzhou) and an MBA from the American Graduate School of Business (Switzerland); her career spans the Macao Sport Development Board (2000–2009), Chief Executive Chui Sai On's Office as Adviser and then Chief-of-Office (2009–2019), and Vice-Chair of the Administration Committee of the Municipal Affairs Bureau (2019–2024). She is a 13th- and 14th-term CPPCC National Committee member and comes from a long-standing Macao patriotic family — her grandfather O Lon directed Kiang Wu Hospital and her grand-uncle Ko Cheng-peng was a senior figure at the Xinhua Macau Branch and a Basic Law drafter. From November 2025 she concurrently serves as Deputy Director of the Guangdong-Macao Hengqin Cooperation Zone Management Committee.