2020 – a year of woe and pride for Macau – Editorial

Editorial      2020 has been a year both of woe and pride for Macau. Owing to the dreadful impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the outgoing year has been the hardest for our city since the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region in 1999. Our inadequately diversified economy has been severely afflicted by the global health crisis, its tourism, retail and gaming sectors in particular, although virtually every local business segment has been hard hit since early

December 23, 2020 | BY admin

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COVID-19 triggers solidarity – and insanity – Editorial

Editorial      The global COVID-19 crisis has brought out the best and worst in humanity – solidarity and insanity. The venerable Bangkok Post reported last week that about 150 Thai and foreign customers were arrested at a nightclub quite appropriately called Insanity in Bangkok last week. According to the report, there was no social distancing to prevent the spread of COVID-19, and most of the clubbers weren’t wearing facemasks. Some discarded drugs were found on the

December 15, 2020 | BY admin

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Grand Prix copes with COVID-19 & pell-mell Guia Race – Editorial

Editorial      The accident-riddled but injury-free 67th Macau Grand Prix (MGP) showed our city’s resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic even though the annual motor-racing weekend needed to be held in a scaled-down version.Luckily enough, unlike some of the other races, the helter-skelter Guia Race in particular, yesterday’s Formula 4 race –which made its local debut – proved its mettle – and local drivers Charles Leong Hon Chio and Andy Chang Wing Chung finished as its

November 23, 2020 | BY admin

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More civic education needed to prevent crime – Editorial

Last week’s announcement by the Judiciary Police (PJ) that 31 local suspects in a massive credit card data scam include 13 university students and two secondary school pupils was not just startling but also worrying. I was flabbergasted when I edited our reporter’s article about our city’s latest organised fraud case. How is it possible that university students are allegedly involved in swindling on a large scale? Did no-one teach them the difference between right and wrong? Of

November 3, 2020 | BY admin

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A welcome rapprochement between two giants – Editorial

Last week’s visit by Fu Ziying, the central government’s highest-ranking official based in Macau, to the University of Saint Joseph (USJ) and courtesy call by a USJ delegation on Macau’s first chief executive, Edmund Ho Hau Wah, who is now a state leader in his capacity as a vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), can only be described as “significant” and “amicable,” as a source of the Catholic Diocese of Macau

October 27, 2020 | BY admin

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Clarification on Confucius quote preceding yesterday’s editorial

Harald Brüning      I have been contacted by several readers – who happen also to be my friends including a local sinologist – about the quote that preceded yesterday’s editorial headed “Mature enough for reflection”. The quote attributed to Confucius reads: “By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”I received the quote from a former Hong

October 20, 2020 | BY admin

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Mature enough for reflection – Editorial

    By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest. – Confucius      Court of Final Appeal (TUI) President Sam Hou Fai’s speech at last week’s ceremony marking the formal commencement of the new Judicial Year in which he called for a careful reflection on Macau’s Portuguese-style legal system ruffled a few feathers in the legal fraternity

October 19, 2020 | BY admin

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Tackling COVID-19 – a high-wire act without a safety net yet – Editorial

Editorial       The haphazard way some governments such as those of the US and UK have been tackling COVID-19 reminds me of flying trapeze acts without safety harnesses or at least a safety net by circus performers in the not-so-distant past. Nowadays, trapeze acts generally require safety inspections by the authorities before the performers are allowed to take off from a slim board on the fly bar. As a kid I was fascinated by the daredevil circus performances a few times a

September 28, 2020 | BY admin

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Cooperative coexistence of Macau’s 3 branches of govt – Editorial

September 22, 2020 | BY admin

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Cooperative coexistence of Macau’s 3 branches of government – Editorial

     Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s remarks earlier this month that there is no Western-style separation of powers in the special administrative region’s executive-led political system stirred up a hornet’s nest – among opposition politicians and some segments of the legal fraternity in particular.Lam said the accurate view of Hong Kong’s political system was that its three branches of government – executive, legislature, judiciary – perform

September 21, 2020 | BY admin

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Editorial: New central library should be functional & exude dignity - Chinese translation

September 15, 2020 | BY admin

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New central library should be functional & exude dignity--Editorial

Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) President Mok Ian Ian made my day when she announced on Thursday that the government will finally get its long-delayed new central library project off the ground. As a die-hard bibliophile I have been attracted to libraries since my childhood. I spent much of my university years in Munich in the colossal but poorly-lit reading hall of the Bavarian State Library. Well, I must admit that I spent large part of my presence in the library’s ground-floor café because I

September 14, 2020 | BY admin

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Civil protection team deserves a hearty pat on the back – Editorial

Editorial Initially I planned to write this editorial on Wednesday, i.e. just a few hours after the rarely hoisted storm warning signal No. 10 had been lowered by our meteorologists, but I decided to delay it by one day so that I could ask more residents about their views on the government’s civil protection measures before, during and after Typhoon Higos.I had expected to hear mostly favourable opinions but to my surprise I heard no negative views at all. The Civil Protection Operations

August 21, 2020 | BY admin

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Taking pity on Hong Kong – Editorial

When Swindon in Lock Road, my favourite bookshop in Hong Kong for four decades, closed for good on Friday I couldn’t help but take pity, once again, on the Fragrant Harbour. According to Hong Kong media reports, the famed bookshop’s demise was due to a variety of reasons such as the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and a years-long rent dispute with the landlord. It may sound like a hackneyed phrase, but Swindon, which opened in 1918, was surely an institution. I will miss it.

August 3, 2020 | BY admin

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