Gov’t accused of selective enforcement of rules

Jason Chao (right) accompanied by other ANM members

The New Macau Association has criticized the two government reports concerning the latest elections of Legislative Assembly (AL) members and the Chief Executive (CE), saying that “the electoral affairs commissions lacked a genuine interest in ensuring a fair election.”
At a press conference at the New Macau Association (ANM) offices, the president of the organization, Jason Chao, accused the AL and CE Election Affairs Committees of selectively applying the law and “willingly turning a blind eye” to some cases of electoral law violation.
According to Chao, the only campaigners who have been criticized by the committees in the reports are those who have been promoting a particular ideology – that of pushing for free and fair elections.
He claimed that the reports had downplayed illegal activities by traditional interest groups, and had instead attempted to suppress initiatives promoting the practice of free and fair elections.
The current electoral law in Macau prohibits candidates from campaigning in certain areas, such as public places, ahead of an election. In these spaces, public authorities must maintain benevolent neutrality without favoring individual candidates.
In spite of this, however, Chao claimed that private schools receiving significant public subsidies had shown bias by displaying electoral banners and allowing certain candidates to conduct talks on their premises.
Jason Chao claims that he did not receive a response after he requested that ANM’s material also be displayed in these areas, which led to the group submitting a complaint to the Electoral Affairs Commission.
“After the election, the Electoral Affairs Commission did not follow up the case and made no mention of it in the report,” said Chao.
Further, the ANM claims it is able to produce photographic evidence that some casino-resorts had promoted candidates to their employees in the lead-up to the 2013 AL election.
“Only those connected to the casinos were able to put up their banners,” Chao said, before alleging that City of Dreams had put up “huge posters of Chan Meng Kam and Angela Leong in their staff recreation areas” and had distributed election souvenirs to their employees.
Among the many other complaints leveled, the organization included one directed at the government’s suggestion of holding “private meetings” to “persuade” candidates not to partake in illegal activities, which the New Macau Association deems an inadequate solution.
In regards to the CE election, the New Macau Association said it was disappointed that the government report had not taken into account what the group alleges to be blatant “abuses of public resources.”
Chao claims that before and during the 2014 CE election, the government used public resources to finance billboards promoting Chui’s proposals upon re- election.  “Such practice was not only an early campaign, but also an abuse of public resources.”
The group, in its widespread criticism of the reports, also found an instance of discrepancy between the Chinese and Portuguese language versions, which appeared to omit substantive information on political propaganda issues.
“The Chinese is the original and the Portuguese [version] is the translation. [The latter] left out the main thrust of the paragraph,” Chao explained.
“I don’t know whether this was deliberate or an accident in the translation. But Ip Song Sang is the one who is ultimately responsible for [ensuring the accuracy of] the Portuguese version of the report.”
He called on others to further investigate discrepancies between the two reports.
When asked what amendments to the electoral law the New Macau Association would suggest, Chao only stated, “measures to ensure fair elections.”
The president of the group added that the ANM plans to comment on the amendments once the government has published its proposals. Staff reporter

Jason Chao: Disappearances ‘could happen in Macau as well’

At a press conference at the offices of the New Macau Association yesterday, Jason Chao said that he feels “exhausted and powerless that they [Mainland China] can kidnap someone from Hong Kong or Macau, and take them back to the mainland for interrogation or torture.”
Chao made the comments in relation to the five missing Hong Kong-based booksellers who have gone missing in recent months (see back page).
“These Hong Kong citizens were lured to either Shenzhen or Thailand to be arrested,” said Chao, arguing that this represents “a blatant violation of the Basic Law.”
Asked whether the New Macau Association will protest the suspected kidnappings, Jason Chao said that the group was still discussing recent developments but that they “will keep a close eye on the matter.”
“It could happen in Macau as well,” he warned.