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Ada Wong tipped as culture minister

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Arts critic Ada Wong Ying-kay is expected to take up the post of culture minister to lead a newly created bureau, the South China Morning Post has learned.

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The new culture bureau is to take over the duty of heritage conservation from the Development Bureau. Urban designers worry the change may defeat the current efficient mechanism of protecting heritage and result in a repeat of the King Yin Lei incident, in which a historic mansion was nearly demolished.

The proposed bureau, part of chief executive-elect Leung Chun-ying's government restructuring plans, is up for discussion in the Legislative Council today.

Both Wong, chief executive of the Institute of Contemporary Culture, and Ma Fung-kwok, former chairman of the Arts Development Council, had been tipped to head the body.

But joining the government would require Ma to give up his position as Hong Kong deputy to the National People's Congress and he did not want to do that, a source said yesterday.

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Another person familiar with Leung's search for ministerial candidates also said Ma was unwilling to be culture minister. Ma had earlier stated his intention to run for the Legislative Council seat representing sports, performing arts, culture and publications in September's election.

Ma said he would not comment on the post.

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