Author: Severo Portela
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Rear Window | The right and difficult stuff
Already speeding toward the double 20 – December 20th marks two decades as a Special Administrative Region – Macau is facing additional responsibilities as the ´good ... -
Rear Window | Squaring the circle
Hong Kong is apparently at its direst crossroads, stranded between Beijing’s resolve to restore order in the SAR and the symbolic strength Hongkonger foot protesters still ... -
Rear Window | Face off
Once again, Macau sails through that atypical season of a quiet and uneventful brand of local politics where and when anything goes. That is to say, ... -
Rear Window | Pride that blinds
Contrary to some (un)conventional wisdom, making the case for the gentle, well-behaved, realistic Macau, as against the fiery and doomed Hong Kong, we think there is ... -
Rear Window | Too much ado about common sense
Though, now, in low-key public protest mode – perhaps an apparent stand-still between “Be Water” activism and the security apparatus under Carrie Lam – resorting to ... -
Rear Window | Courtesy call
Now it is completely official. TUI acknowledged the easy to tally 400-vote small-circle method to select the new Chief Executive. 392 of the 400 happened to ... -
Rear Window | Changing the game
No need to resort to the disclaimer of “noblesse-oblige” to give credit where credit is due. And the credit goes to the solo runner to take ... -
Rear Window | Chui Sai On’s remaining days in office
Chui Sai On sailed dire waters through his two terms as the MSAR’s second Chief Executive, indeed. Despite the evaluation one can make of Chui’s overall ... -
Rear Window | Typhoon season forecast
Space conquest science has been developing new tools to forecast weather with more accuracy, thus giving humanity a better chance to minimize damage and spare lives. ... -
Monday, July 8, 2019 – edition no. 3327
* Labor Law updated after business concerns heard * Ho Iat Seng gears up for Chief Executive run * Tens of thousands take message to mainlanders ... -
Rear Window | Back to basics
Two million Hong Kong residents felt obliged to go down to Admiralty to fight against a fishy extradition bill, deemed an “evil law” by the freshly ... -
Rear Window | Wolf law in sheep’s clothing
Media organizations, and journalists, mainly through the Macau Portuguese and English Press Association (AIPIM), have of late been voicing a degree of concern about the freedom ... -
Rear Window | Ho by himself
Now it is for real and definitive that political heavyweight Ho Iat Seng is running solo, unopposed and undisturbed, up the for confirmatory procedure of the ... -
Rear Window | Hard to call it an election
Apparently, the slow boat that will take Ho Iat Seng to replace CE Chui Sai On at the end of the year has set sail smoothly ... -
Rear Window | Fever mounts at… Macau SAR
Until the matter of the candidate – or candidates – selected to replace Chief Executive Chui Sai On is unequivocally settled, the political environment will be ... -
Rear Window | The Fifth Dimension
The truth is…until former Chief Executive Edmund Ho gave his cryptic reading on the selection of the candidate to replace Chui Sai On at the helm ... -
Rear Window | The deciding factor(s)
As we have said before in this column, and we will say it again, apparently all relevant central political tips are vouching for a Ho Iat ... -
Rear Window | Red flags all along 2019
On the eve of Chinese New Year, we could not but accept the invitation to summarize in this column some of the worries – perhaps developing ... -
Rear Window | Decorations, Medals and Certificates of Merit
It was again that time of happily be the recipients of the Lotus and the other Merit Awards… honoring those individuals, and entities, whose contributions latu ... -
Rear Window | Coming of age
At first glance, we would not dare to say that MSAR was clearly roaring its engines and taking the fast lane to race towards its 20th ... -
Rear Window | Contrasting tendencies
Despite the almost negligible cash-flow retreat, these days of the heavy showering of bills from the 45 Casinos’ Golden Week seems not enough to brighten up ... -
Rear Window | Macau after Typhoon Mangkhut
These days we find ourselves turning to recollect a former Portuguese prime-minister who was credited with having said – although he was not exactly a follower ... -
Rear Window | Lei Kong on trial for defamation
First of all we have to plead for your leniency on the untasteful title a la social realism, and for the very word leniency that usually ... -
Rear Window | Gang of nine vs Sulu Sou
Severo Portela If the Legislative Assembly members were only about establishing it as a space of free speech, no matter how spirited or spicy the exchanges ... -
Rear Window | Killing me softly
If it were a fictional protagonist of a tragedy characterized as sensitive and prone to meek hysterics… this persona, being the judicial system, would shout: they ... -
Rear Window | Rumor-mongers on the watch list
Here we go again heading into normal peak typhoon season! From July all the way to September, people and government departments are keen to prevent the ... -
Rear Window | Game of Appeals: Caution and tact highly recommended
Not knowing whether the Public Prosecution Office has filed an appeal against Sulu Sou and Scott Chiang sentencing as we draft this column… we would rather ... -
Rear Window | Driving woes
Today we would like to lighten up your usual Legco and Courts column with a social affairs theme: cars, cars and cars. A little will be… ... -
Rear Window | Presumed guilty
First things first; we should begin with an unequivocal disclaimer of not having any suspicion, no shadow of a doubt at all, of the full independence ... -
Rear Window | David vs Goliath
The repeated biblical story of how the underdog David came to beat the mighty Goliath is a good metaphor for improbable victories as well as a ... -
Rear Window | Jumping into the crowd
We would like to be able to say that out of the blue, the Legislative Assembly took the bold step to recommend to the MSAR government ... -
Rear Window | Executive privilege
Once again, Chief Executive Chui Sai On left the government building for Nam Van Lake’s Legislative Assembly to take part in a plenary session called to ... -
Rear Window | They are all birds of a feather
It is no wonder that in such a small place like Macau – truly, any small place real or otherwise – rumor, gossip, bad information or ... -
Rear Window | Polishing the judiciary
Everyone saw it coming! The Secretary for Administration and Justice’s candid confirmation that the proposal to amend the MSAR judiciary law will or would prevent foreign ... -
Rear Window | Getting beyond Wynn fall
Suddenly… the barrage of claims of sexual misconduct that brought down conspicuous figures from politics, business and entertainment, starting from about last fall with Harvey Weinstein, ...
