Kapok | Everything in style

This is an ancient dilemma: which one should prevail, substance over form or the opposite? For a very long time substance was always the one considered to be the most

Kapok: Liberté, égalité, fraternité

I must admit that I usually don’t easily gulp overly nationalistic injunctions, and hence consider appeals to “national unity” and unquestionable flag-waving displays of national pride with great suspicion. In

Kapok: Blowing hot and cold

Politicking in Macao at present is being blurred by the celebratory mood of the year-end, and Christmas has indeed a lot to do with it. With the visit of Xi

Kapok | Expected Expectations

Nobody can deny it: the announcement of the new government line-up last Monday did not come as a surprise, quite the opposite. Secretaries’ and other senior officials’ names had been

Kapok: Moaners

When I voiced concern in my columns last February that Ho Iat Seng, the newly sworn-in president of the Legislative Assembly, was openly deploring the lack of “legal training” of

Kapok: Red card for yellow cabs

The disappearance of the yellow taxis in Macao is saddening. First, because they had become a customary fixture of our daily lives: the Official Gazette reminds us rather aridly that

Kapok: Paper patriots

Patriotism is a double-edged sword: mustered adequately it becomes a potent mantra for the community to feel more united, but a ponderous and rather superfluous summon can easily devoid it

Kapok | Hong Kong and us

The Occupy Central movement is, of course, about democracy and the rejection of the perceived National People’s Congress’ fool’s bargain of August 31st. The central authorities have decided that that

Kapok | In praise of the vouchers

Let me be honest: at first I was more than doubtful about what I was reading, and one could even say that I started looking deeper into the matter with

Kapok: Hong Kong and us

The recent debate over universal suffrage for the 2017 election of the Chief Executive in Hong Kong, and the much anticipated ruling made by the National People’s Congress (NPC) last

Kapok: The uniqueness of being only one

Elections get me excited, even when one has no real choice and the predictability of the outcome is no less than 100%. This is uncommon, I admit, as what fills

Kapok: Drawing the line

I must admit it is often tricky to “draw the line between academic research, political commentary and direct political intervention”—to quote my former employer, and for sure, the easiest way

Kapok | Contentious words

Let’s be clear, from a constitutional point of view there is nothing “illegal” in organizing an informal public consultation aka survey in the form of a mock referendum regarding the

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