PSP says act of force “strictly in accordance with the law”

Simon Lam

Non-permanent resident Simon Lam was stopped by the Public Security Police Force (PSP) at the Outer Harbor Ferry Terminal on May 1 and reportedly given two days to exit the territory, according to media reports last week.

In an email response to the Times, the PSP said Lam is “not a resident of Macau, and he is [suspected] of violating the Macau law. Therefore, the PSP led the proceedings strictly in accordance with the law.”

In the same written statement, the PSP stated that it “fulfills the duty of inspection and control of the entries and exits of the MSAR, in strict accordance with the law and with the procedures established to examine the conditions of entry and exit of all people, and in this way, decide to authorize or refuse entry and exit of visitors.”

The statement did not reveal why Lam was stopped at the immigration checkpoint in the first place, nor did it explain the subsequent investigation.

While the PSP confirmed that Lam’s resident visa had been revoked on the same day, they did not specify whether it had been revoked prior to the incident.

According to Lam, the case is related to his quarrel with a taxi driver on December 18, 2016 near the Hotel Okura in Taipa. A letter from the PSP to Lam stated that the taxi driver had sustained physical injuries after “the suspect [Lam] supposedly took the victim’s blue cap for no apparent reason and used his right hand to press the victim’s left eye.”

“Considering the fact that these behaviors have already caused threats to the local region’s public security and order, the head of the Macau immigration department signed a notice on May 1 to terminate the suspect’s residency permit, [and] ordered him to leave Macau before May 3,” it added.

“If the suspect violates the aforementioned ruling, he will be regarded as illegally overstaying and will be expelled,” the letter concluded.

Lam did not sign the letter as it was written in Chinese and he is not proficient in the language. However, he has stated that the contents of the letter are false, and that he was the victim of the assault by the taxi driver. Lam added that he had pressed charges against the driver.
According to Lam, the quarrel started “because he refused the ride, I refused to exit the car. He dragged me out and hit me.”

He added that the incident had been witnessed by the security of Galaxy Macau and recorded by surveillance cameras.

“My friends all saw the incident. We all gave statements on that day,” he said.

At the time of the incident, Lam was waiting for the renewal of his visa, which had expired on November 2016.

Lam told TDM he feared that the decision to reject his visa renewal application was based on false information.