Author: Severo Portela
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Rear Window | The Theory of Everything
As the low-budget season comes to its end, we guess it is the appropriate time to try pinpointing the trends that made 2015 different enough to ... -
Rear Window | An official position
Besides the commonly applied superlatives giving the enclave its singular profile – trivia, such as cars inch by inch or the squeeze of people sharing space, ... -
Rear Window | 400 blows
Macau Special Administrative Region maverick lawmaker, José Pereira Coutinho, was around 400 votes short of landing a seat in the Portuguese parliament. With few expectations, Coutinho ... -
Rear Window | Slow cooking recipes
It is often hard to explain to gambling “Impresarios” that the game has changed for good… in such a definitive way they have to adapt themselves ... -
Rear Window | Junket to junk
Video footage showing a gamblers’ brawl allegedly in one of the casinos got attention on social media. It seemed to be more a nervous “quid pro ... -
Rear Window | Side effects
Amidst a serious decline in gaming revenue, ‘all’ Macau is waiting for the soon to be disclosed mid-term review of the casino industry. Understandably, given the ... -
Rear Window | Typhoon season
High summer in Macau comes with unbearable humidity, gales and tropical showers, and a series of typhoons. But daily news and public affairs do not have ... -
Rear Window | Smoke curtain
Who could have guessed that the smoking ban in casinos would return to haunt gaming operators? Given, of course, the much more relevant issues the industry ... -
Rear Window | Swinging trains
Legislator, entrepreneur and prominent local Fujianese leader, Chan Meng Kam, had a very good week…in spite of an alleged electoral corruption court case running against alleged ... -
Rear Window | Still room for improvement
As the dust settles in the aftermath of the unpredictable May Day civil and industrial actions, at least partly, Macau dares to read the new trends ... -
Rear Window | May power
Inspired by the slogan that proclaims “Only Macau is Macau”, we are ready to believe this presumed uniqueness and stubborn localism refers to everything going on ... -
Rear Window | Idle cash
Conventional wisdom tells us that Macau people are eager to brag about the standard of the services provided by its utilities, or at least admit a ... -
Rear Window | Minimum understanding
Previously, we addressed in this column the local reading of the new normal. Each Secretary of MSAR Government simply manages their portfolio at the micro level. ... -
Rear Window : There is always room for one more
The theory in use must be the one about the hypothetical ever-accommodating can of sardines: you squeeze a little and there you go… one more added ... -
Rear Window: New adjustment
Chan Wai Kuong, the new director of the Judiciary Police, broke the news during PJ’s annual meeting with the local media that gaming-related crimes have increased ... -
Rear Window: On winning quietly
Running against the unspoken rule, Chui Sai On’s second term began immediately after the Chief Executive was inaugurated on the SAR’s 15th anniversary. Usually, things go ... -
Rear Window | Twin cities
Understandably, China’s high-ranking officials praising Macau as a “role model” on the grounds of its scrupulous compliance with the Basic Law, as well as the better ... -
Rear Window: Chui Sai On’s new beginning
We do take as good and insightful, the political trivia that there is no such thing as luck in politics. Under this rule, MSAR Chief Executive, ... -
Rear Window: True colors
And so…the gathering of a few dozen Yellow Ribbon students and political activists at UMAC’s Hengqin Island campus, born as a protest and later announced as ... -
Rear Window: You run, I follow
As the ‘dust’ settles in Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Mong Kok, pepper spray dissolves into thin air and the umbrella protests come to an end, only ... -
Rear Window: Be prepared
1. As we write this column, unaware of the key players in Chui Sai On’s second team of secretaries, we have to rely on President Xi ... -
Rear Window | The long goodbye!
The PRC’s State Council – under Premier Li Keqiang – has appointed Chui Sai On as the next Macau Special Administrative Region Chief Executive. Chui received ... -
Rear Window: Source code
Occupy Central member Benny Tai Yiu-ting’s admission of an objective defeat regarding the 2017 full democratic electoral method, and the corresponding victory of the National People’s ... -
Rear Window | TUI cum laude
The ruling that the MSAR’s Court of Final Appeal (TUI) made on the negative answer that the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau gave the Open Society ... -
Rear Window: Virtuous cycle, vicious cycle
If we take as a given the alleged overall dissatisfaction over the Chief Executive’s performance, there is a fair possibility that no matter who would be ... -
Rear Window: Sailing safe
1. If politics are always local politics, you are in the right place to observe how Macau handles rocky problems or issues – similar to the ...
