José Pereira Coutinho

José Maria Pereira Coutinho
Kou Tin Chi
高天賜
Deputy of Macau Legislative Assembly, Jurist, President of New Hope, President of Macau Civil Servants Association and Counselor of Portuguese Communities
Assumed office
25 September 2005
Constituency Macau (Directly elected)
Personal details
Born (1957-07-22) July 22, 1957
Macau
Nationality Portugal Macao
Political party New Hope
Awards Commander of the Merit Order

José Maria Pereira Coutinho (Chinese: 高天賜; born 22 July 1957 in Macau[1]) is a jurist, Counselor of the Portuguese Communities since 2003, President of New Hope a pro-democracy party in Macau, President of Macau Civil Servants Association since 1998 and Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Macau elected by universal suffrage since 2005.

Background

José Maria Pereira Coutinho is son of former police chief Basílio Câncio Coutinho and house wife Maria Ida Lourdinha Julieta Pereira Coutinho who were both born in the former Portuguese Colony of Goa, India, before emigrating to Macau. Born and grown up in Macau, he studied and graduated in Law by the University of Macau. When he was a child, his dream was following his father steps and becoming a policeman one day. Once grown, his father convinced him to not be a policeman because there would be too many policemen at home.[2]

His mother tongue is Portuguese and since he was born in Macau, he learned to speak Cantonese in his teenage years and English while studying in the High School and in the University. After being elected as deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Macau in 2005, José Pereira Coutinho spent more time into improving his Cantonese since it is preferred over the Portuguese in the Legislative Assembly. Only José Pereira Coutinho (directly elected by the people) and Leonel Alves (appointed by the Chief Executive) speak Portuguese fluently among all deputies in the Legislative Assembly of Macau.

As of 2015, José Pereira Coutinho can express fluently in Portuguese, English, Cantonese and relatively well in Mandarin.

Career

José Maria Pereira Coutinho is a Licentiate in Law by University of Macau.

He led the Department of Intellectual Property of the Economy Services of Macau Government.

He worked as a General Secretary of Volunteered Arbitrary Center in Macau World Trade Center.

He is member of multiple civic associations in Macau as honorary member and consultant.

José Pereira Coutinho is the only Portuguese citizen elected (and by universal suffrage) to a seat of Macau Legislative Assembly.[3] Contrary to democratic countries political systems, Macau Legislative Assembly consists of deputies that are appointed by Macau Chief Executive, deputies that are indirectly elected and deputies that are directly elected by Macau citizens (universal suffrage) being the latter a minority among all the deputies.[4] Macau is a Special Administrative Region of China since the handover in December 20, 1999, marking an end to the Portuguese Administration that lasted almost 500 years.

On September 7, 2015, José Pereira Coutinho was reelected as Counselor of the Portuguese Communities for Macau, Hong Kong and China region with 2158 votes, 39 blank votes and 123 null votes,[5] making Macau the region in the World where the Portuguese electorate was one of the most active if not the most, among all regions (Brazil had 462 votes,[6] Germany had 245 votes[7]) that participated in these elections in their respective regions.

Political & Social Activities

José Pereira Coutinho is a popular figure in Macau as he often becomes acquainted in sensitive issues of Macau society that many with authority prefer conveniently to not touch or at least avoid being in the spot light. His frontal, direct and fearless approach in any issue has earned him many supporters and respect among the citizens of Macau who are traditionally conservative and distant from social and political affairs.

José Pereira Coutinho has participated in multiple political and social activities in Macau since early 2000 such as visiting poor families in the name of Macau Civil Servants Association and promoting the practice of sports specially among the youth (Coutinho himself is a former football player of Macau 1st Division).

In October 2007, Pereira Coutinho highlighted that Macau Government was not saying the truth when it expressed that the Gaming Industry was helping Macau's wealth. According to Pereira Coutinho, the Gaming Industry is only benefiting a few individuals leaving many in increasing difficulties as day goes by. Such difficulties did not exist or at least were not prominent previous to the boom of the Gaming Industry in Macau.[8]

In October 2012, Pereira Coutinho resumed the cruel reality of Macau Government strategy by stating that Macau has only one public Hospital and 36 Casinos operating.[9] The only public hospital in Macau is Hospital Conde S. Januario and was established in 1874.

Pereira Coutinho led a protest in the streets of Macau against a bill that was rejected by his peers in the Legislative Assembly in February 2014. This bill which was proposed by Pereira Coutinho gives animals basic rights since there is no regulation to what happens to the horses and greyhounds also victims of the Gaming Industry.[10]

Pereira Coutinho successfully led a massive protest in May 2014 in the streets of Macau against a proposal that his fellow deputies attempted to approve which basically consists of giving criminal immunity to a Government official during and after his or her contract ends.[11] The protest was so huge that the bill was consequently withdrawn even though the protest happened during the working hours of a working day.

In September 2015, José Pereira Coutinho became acquainted in the Dore Holdings case as he received 53 complaints from individuals that requested his help. The disappearance of $2 billion HKD from the junket's operator in one day may have opened a window to a deeper and darker side of Macau Gaming Industry since there are more junket operators and Dore Holdings is not the largest one.[12]

José Pereira Coutinho protesting in the streets of Macau in February 2014 against the rejection by the Legislative Assembly of a bill that gives animals basic rights

"Nós, Cidadãos!"

On August 27, 2015, José Pereira Coutinho confirmed that he will be running in the Portuguese Parliament elections in October 2015 under the electoral circuit outside Europe, heading the political party "Nós, Cidadãos!" (We, the Citizens!).[13] If elected, Coutinho will become the only deputy in the World elected for the Parliament of two different countries: Macau S.A.R. (China) where he already has a seat since 2005 and Portugal.

Since José Maria Pereira Coutinho is a popular figure in Macau and is not unknown in the Portuguese Communities around the World, "he has real chances to be elected as a deputy of the Circle Out of Europe" during these elections of 2015 in Portugal, according to Professor Mendo Henriques, leader of "Nós, Cidadãos!" political party.[14] José Pereira Coutinho has stated that he was "invited" by a strong political party in Portugal to withdraw his candidacy for the elections in Portugal[15] which he didn't.

On September 25, 2015, Professor Mendo Henriques admitted that the political party is considering impugning the elections for the Circle Out of Europe because serious irregularities were found in the distribution of the voting bulletins among the Portuguese living overseas.[16] As of September 25, 2015, only 4000 voting bulletins were distributed to the Portuguese electorate in Macau although there are more than 15 000 registered in the Portuguese Consulate to date. Moreover, the destination address in the envelope of the voting bulletin is missing the word "Portugal" meaning thus that the envelope may not be sent to Portugal if the address is not corrected by the voter.[17]

Decorations

In May 2014, he was granted the degree of Commander of the Merit Order by the President of the Portuguese Republic Cavaco Silva.[18]

Jose Pereira Coutinho being decorated by the President of Portugal Republic, Cavaco Silva in May 2014

Election results

Legislative Assembly of Macau

Year Candidate Hare quota Mandate List Votes List Pct
2005 José Pereira Coutinho (NE) 9,974 №8/12 9,974 7.99%
2009 José Pereira Coutinho (NE) 12,908 №6/12 12,908 9.10%
2013 José Pereira Coutinho (NE) 6,559 №5/14 13,118 8.96%

Assembly of the Republic of Portugal

Year Candidate Constituency Votes Percentage
2015 José Pereira Coutinho (NC) Rest of the World 2,631 17.9%

See also

References

  1. ↑ "第四屆立法會選舉候選名單總" (PDF). 澳門行政暨公職局. 2009-07-15.
  2. ↑ "《人人有好夢》| 第一集 高天賜---澳門立法會議員 | Good 好傳媒 | 澳門網上電視 | 澳門網絡電視". Good.com.mo. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  3. ↑ "Portuguese elected to Macao Parliament - The Portugal News". www.theportugalnews.com. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  4. ↑ "Legislative Assembly of the Macao Special Administrative Region". www.al.gov.mo. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  5. ↑ Machado, Leonor Sá. "CCP | Lista de Pereira Coutinho vence lugar no Conselho". Hoje Macau. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  6. ↑ Bernardo, Luis. "Vice-Consulado de Portugal em Belém do Pará - RESULTADO DAS ELEIÇÕES PARA O CONSELHO DAS COMUNIDADES PORTUGUESAS 2015". www.vcportugalbelem.org.br. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  7. ↑ Berlim. "Resultados do Apuramento Geral desta sede de Círculo Eleitoral". www.botschaftportugal.de. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  8. ↑ Greenlees, Donald (2007-10-10). "In a Wave of Gambling Profits, an Undertow for Some". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
  9. ↑ "One public hospital, 36 casinos: Welcome to Macau". Reuters. 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
  10. ↑ stanley. "Animal rights stir up emotions at forum". Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  11. ↑ "Massive protest slams Macau bill - The Standard". www.thestandard.com.hk. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  12. ↑ "Is the Macau dream becoming a nightmare? Angry junket investors demand return of millions of dollars after HK$2 billion theft". Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  13. ↑ "Coutinho confirms Portuguese parliamentary bid". MACAU DAILY TIMES. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
  14. ↑ "Nós, Cidadãos! admite impugnar eleição por Fora da Europa". Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  15. ↑ Machado, Leonor Sá. "AR | Coutinho diz ter sido pressionado por "grande partido" para não se candidatar". Hoje Macau. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  16. ↑ "Nós, Cidadãos! admite impugnar eleição Fora da Europa". Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  17. ↑ Renascença. "Partido Nós, Cidadãos admite impugnar eleições do círculo Fora da Europa - Renascença". rr.sapo.pt. Retrieved 2015-09-27.
  18. ↑ "Official page of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic". www.presidencia.pt. Retrieved 2015-09-19.
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