José Pereira Coutinho

On September 7, 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.

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.

On August 27, 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 of the People's Republic of China (where he had had a seat since 2005) and the Assembly of the Republic in Portugal.

On September 25, 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 September 25, 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.

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

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.

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.

His mother tongue is Portuguese, and as he was born in Macau, he learned to speak Cantonese 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.

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).

The majority of seats in the assembly are either appointed by the chief executive or indirectly elected from functional constituencies. Macau has been a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China since the transfer of sovereignty on December 20, 1999, marking an end to Portuguese administration after almost 500 years.

José Maria Pereira Coutinho ComM (Chinese: 高天賜; 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 party New Hope and Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Macau since 2005.