José Pereira Coutinho
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

José Maria Pereira Coutinho
ComM The command in the Unix family of computer operating systems is a utility that is used to compare two files for common and distinct lines. is specified in the POSIX standard. It has been widely available on Unix-like operating systems since ...
(; born 22 July 1957) is a Macanese politician and jurist. He has been the Counselor of the Portuguese Communities since 2003, President of Macau Civil Servants Association since 1998, and President of
pro-democracy Democratization, or democratisation, is the structural government transition from an authoritarian government to a more democratic political regime, including substantive political changes moving in a democratic direction. Whether and to what ...
party New Hope and Deputy of the
Legislative Assembly of Macau The Legislative Assembly of the Macau Special Administrative Region is the organ of the legislative branch of Macau. It is a 33-member body comprising 14 directly elected members, 12 indirectly elected members representing Functional constitu ...
since 2005.


Background

José Maria Pereira Coutinho is son of former police chief Basílio Câncio Coutinho and housewife Maria Ida Lourdinha Julieta Pereira Coutinho who were both born in the former Portuguese colony of
Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
, before emigrating to Macau. Born and raised in Macau, he studied and graduated in Law at the University of Macau. When he was a child, his dream was to follow in his father's footsteps and become a policeman one day, but his father convinced him to not be a policeman because there would be too many policemen at home. His mother tongue is Portuguese, and as he was born in Macau, he learned to speak
Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...
in his teenage years and English while studying in high school and university. After being elected as a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Macau in 2005, Coutinho spent more time on improving his Cantonese since it is preferred over Portuguese in the Legislative Assembly. Along with Leonel Alves (indirectly elected by the functional constituency of professional interests) he is one of only two deputies in the Legislative Assembly who can speak Portuguese fluently. Coutinho is fluent in Portuguese, English and Cantonese, and is relatively proficient in
Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...
.


Career

José Maria Pereira Coutinho has a Licentiate in Law from the
University of Macau The University of Macau (UM or UMAC) is a public comprehensive research university in Macau. The university campus is located in Hengqin, Hengqin Island, Zhuhai, Guangdong, on a piece of land leased to and under the jurisdiction of the Governmen ...
. He led the Department of Intellectual Property of the Economy Services of Macau Government, and worked as a General Secretary of Volunteered Arbitrary Center in Macau World Trade Center. He is also a member of several civic associations in Macau as honorary member and consultant. Coutinho is the only Portuguese citizen elected (and by universal suffrage) to a seat in the
Legislative Assembly of Macau The Legislative Assembly of the Macau Special Administrative Region is the organ of the legislative branch of Macau. It is a 33-member body comprising 14 directly elected members, 12 indirectly elected members representing Functional constitu ...
. Under the
Basic Law A basic law is either a codified constitution, or in countries with uncodified constitutions, a law designed to have the effect of a constitution. The term ''basic law'' is used in some places as an alternative to "constitution" and may be inte ...
, foreign nationals may stand for election to directly elected seats, in contrast to
Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
, where they may only stand for
indirectly elected An indirect election or ''hierarchical voting,'' is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office ( direct voting system), but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. It is one of the o ...
seats in the
Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...
. The majority of seats in the assembly are either appointed by the
chief executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...
or indirectly elected from functional constituencies. Macau has been a Special Administrative Region of the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
since the transfer of sovereignty on 20 December 1999, marking an end to Portuguese administration after almost 500 years. On 7 September 2015, Coutinho was re-elected as Councillor of the Portuguese Communities for the Macau, Hong Kong and China region with 2158 votes, 39 blank votes and 123 null votes, making Macau the region of the world where the Portuguese electorate was one of the most, if not the most active, among all regions; Brazil had 462 votes, while Germany had 245.


Political and 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 in the Macau 1st Division). In October 2007, Coutinho highlighted how the Macau government was not telling the truth when it claimed that the gaming industry was helping Macau's wealth. According to 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. In October 2012, Coutinho continued to criticise Macau government strategy by stating that Macau has only one public hospital, but 36 casinos operating. The only public hospital in Macau is Hospital Conde S. Januario which was established in 1874. 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 Coutinho would give animals basic rights since there is no regulation of what happens to the horses and greyhounds, which are also victims of the gaming industry. 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 government officials during and after their contracts end. 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.


"Nós, Cidadãos!"

On 27 August 2015, Coutinho confirmed that he would be standing for the Portuguese legislative elections in the "Outside Europe" constituency, heading the '' Nós, Cidadãos!'' (or We, the Citizens!) party. Had he been elected, Coutinho would have become the only politician in the world elected to parliaments in two different countries at the same time; the Legislative Assembly of the
Macau Special Administrative Region Macau or Macao is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most densely populated region in the world. Formerly a Portuguese colony, the ter ...
of the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
(where he had had a seat since 2005) and the Assembly of the Republic in
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
. As he was a popular figure in Macau and was known in the Portuguese communities around the world, Coutinho was seen as having a good chance of being elected as deputy for the "Outside Europe" constituency, according to Professor Mendo Henriques, leader of ''Nós, Cidadãos!'' political party. José Pereira Coutinho stated that he was "invited" by a strong political party in Portugal to withdraw his candidacy for the elections in Portugal, but did not. On 25 September 2015, Professor Mendo Henriques announced that the political party was considering mounting a legal challenge to the elections for the "Outside Europe" constituency because of serious irregularities were found in the distribution of ballot papers among the Portuguese living overseas. As of 25 September 2015, only 4000 ballot papers were distributed to Portuguese voters in Macau although there were more than 15,000 registered in the Portuguese Consulate-General to date. Moreover, the destination address on the envelope for the ballot papers was missing the word "Portugal" meaning that the envelope may not have been sent to Portugal if the address were not corrected by the voter.


Decorations

In May 2014, he was granted the degree of
Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...
of the
Merit Order The merit order is a way of ranking available sources of energy, especially electrical generation, based on ascending order of price (which may reflect the order of their short-run marginal costs of production) and sometimes pollution, together wi ...
by the President of the Portuguese Republic
Cavaco Silva The cavaquinho (pronounced in Portuguese language, Portuguese) is a small Portugal, Portuguese string instrument in the European guitar family, with four wires or gut strings. A cavaquinho player is called a ''cavaquista''. Tuning A common Mus ...
.


Election results


Legislative Assembly of Macau


Assembly of the Republic of Portugal


See also

*
List of members of the Legislative Assembly of Macau The following is a historical list of members for the current and past Legislative Assembly of Macau, Legislative Assemblies of Macau: Political bloc List of colonial members Key: DE– Directly elected member (Macau), Directly elected memb ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Coutinho, Jose Pereira 1954 births Living people Cantonese people Macanese people Portuguese politicians of Indian descent Members of the Legislative Assembly of Macau New Hope (Macau) politicians Commanders of the Order of Merit (Portugal)