News

In an apparent U-turn, the Macau government has agreed to resubmit a revised version of its controversial perks bill to the legislature after Sunday’s huge protest against the proposed “golden handshake” law – the biggest protest since the 1999 handover. Legislative Assembly (AL) President Ho Iat Seng Monday accepted a proposal by Chief Executive Fernando […]

Thousands of protesters took to the streets Sunday to voice their opposition to the government’s controversial “golden handshake” bill on generous compensation packages for the chief executive and other principal officials, with Macau Conscience – one of the organisers – saying that about 20,000 people took part. Several independent observers estimated the number of protesters […]

The government announced Thursday that it will start paying the 652,808 beneficiaries of its annual “wealth sharing” scheme on July 2, costing the government about 5.65 billion patacas ( US$ 706.25 million)– 3.6 percent of its budget for this year. Leong Heng Teng, spokesman for the 11-member advisory Executive Council (ExCo), said during a press […]

The government plans to draft a bill to regulate its procurement policies and procedures, Mak Soi Kun, who heads the legislature’s Follow-Up Committee for Public Finance Affairs, said Wednesday. Speaking to reporters after the committee met government representatives in the legislature, Mak said both sides agreed that the existing regulations regarding procurement are out-of-date as […]

The 28-member European Union said in a statement released last week it hopes that “further progress” will be made in the introduction of universal suffrage in Macau. The European Commission made the remarks in its Annual Report 2013 on Macau. The report was released in Brussels on Friday. According to the report, Macau’s political governance […]

China will issue smart cards to gradually replace the current paper permits for those commuting between the mainland and Hong Kong and Macau, the Ministry of Public Security of China announced on Monday. The ministry plans to pilot the new permit in Guangdong, a province in south China adjacent to Hong Kong and Macau, and […]

Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam Pak Yuen said Monday he expected the city’s first bill setting up a statutory minimum wage to be submitted to the Legislative Assembly (AL) next month. Tam made the remark on the sidelines of a public event when he was asked by reporters about the bill. The government […]

Reported cases of domestic violence rose by 41.7 percent year-on-year in the first quarter this year, from 60 to 85. The overall number of reported crimes rose 8.3 percent year-on-year. Secretary for Security Cheong Kuoc Va presented the first quarter’s crime statistics in a press conference at the Sao Francisco BarracksThursday. Macau Public Security Forces […]

The governments of Portugal and Macau plan to hold annual meetings of the two-way joint committee to discuss cooperation in areas such as justice, tourism, security and teaching the Portuguese language, said a source from the Portuguese Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The joint committee between Portugal and the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) is a […]