UNOFFICIAL REFERENDUM | ‘I don’t think I’m safe in Macau,’ says Jason Chao

Jason Chao poses for a picture close the public toilet where he was detained by PJ agents

Political activist Jason Chao does not feel safe in Macau, he told reporters yesterday. The president of the Open Macau Society, one of the associations organizing an unofficial poll on universal suffrage, travelled to Hong Kong recently, so that he could personally oversee the destruction of voters’ personal data without interference from Macau’s authorities.
“I don’t think I’m safe in Macau. The abuse of power by the police has been very rampant while the referendum was carried out,” he stated.
Jason Chao and four referendum volunteers were arrested on August 24 for failing to comply with an order issued by the Office for Personal Data Protection (GPDP), which requested that poll organizers stop collecting and processing voters’ personal data.
Chao was referred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP), and is facing charges of aggravated disobedience.
The political activist was pressured by authorities to hand over the referendum’s online database, containing information on voters, but he refused to comply.
He guaranteed that voters’ personal data would be deleted when the referendum came to an end.
Recently, he felt compelled to leave Macau, since he says that he does not feel safe here any longer. On Sunday, police arrested the political activist at the Macau ferry terminal as he was returning from Hong Kong. He was taken to the PJ headquarters and told to report to authorities on Monday morning. Chao would later be declared suspect in another case, this time related to an allegedly illegal use of a PJ logo by New Macau Association satirical publication Macau Concealers, of which he is the director.
Police authorities had taken into custody two members of Macau Concealers on Saturday, as they were accused of using an image of a suspect staff permit card with the PJ symbol placed in front of the referendum webpage.
In a press conference held yesterday, Jason Chao assured the media that all data that could be used to trace referendum voters has been destroyed. “As I stayed in safe places, I managed to oversee the data destruction process (…) nobody [voters] can be identified. Everybody is safe,” he stated.
Chao confirmed that he suffered pressure from Macau’s authorities. “Yes, there were unusual activities outside my house. The police were trying to contact me very frequently. And the whole procedure was running in an exceptionally fast manner,” he said.
The political activist soon realized he was “a target,” as authorities were trying to get the data from him. “They were using all means possible to shut down the website.”
Jason Chao also filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutions’ Office yesterday, arguing that GPDP’s order to prevent them from processing voters’ personal data was illegal.
Open Macau Society, Macau Youth Dynamics and Macau Conscience launched the unofficial poll, following a similar ballot organized in Hong Kong.

Referendum voters don’t trust the CE

Jason Chao revealed yesterday the results for the referendum’s motion two, indicating that 90 percent of voters do not trust Chui Sai On to be Chief Executive. Out of 8,688 voters, 7,762 said they do not have confidence in Chui; 388 said they do; 528 abstained and 10 voted blank.
The unofficial referendum asked Macau residents whether the next Chief Executive should be elected by universal suffrage in 2019 and whether they have confidence in the current Chief Executive, Chui Sai On. The results for motion 1 were released last Sunday, the same day Chui Sai On was elected for a second term.
95 percent of voters said they support universal suffrage for the 2019 election.
Jason said that the government actively suppressed the unofficial poll: “We could not run physical polling stations, and the turnout was significantly affected by that government suppression.”