Big Brother | Information Bureau stirs controversy after calling Chui ‘On Gor’

The Government Information Bureau (GCS) has triggered a public discussion due to the new way it addressed Chief Executive Chui Sai On in one of its Facebook posts.

On September 19, the GCS released a statement on its official Facebook page, expressing Chui’s thanks to all Macau residents and Macau’s civil servants.

“On Gor [meaning ‘older brother’], on behalf of the MSAR, is issuing an open thank you letter to all Macau residents and all civil servants,” the statement’s lead reads.

Below the lead, three paragraphs referred to Chui as On Gor, instead of the typical formal language such as Chief Executive. 

Until press time, the post received 383 likes, 94 comments and was shared 113 times.

The main discussion among the public targeted the proficiency of the bureau, along with some jokes about the meaning of the term On Gor, in particular, Gor [older brother].

In Chinese, when addressing non-biologically related people with the term Gor, it generally means that that person is in a higher position and should be respected and followed more than others.   

This week, director of GCS Chan Chi Ping responded to the controversy by saying that the bureau uses different expressions on different information platforms, and that such practice is intended to make it easier for the various audiences to receive information.

Chan also believes that only a small number (less than 10) of users had different opinions on the term On Gor. He also noted that this was not the first time GCS used the term. JZ