Activist Jason Chao sees the global attention given to his place of origin as that given to small African countries: marginal. “Macau is often overlooked,” says the London-based Macau native.
Chao, 35, was one of those responsible for organizing a report on China’s special administrative region sent to the UN Human Rights Committee, a group of 18 experts charged with monitoring the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Beijing did not ratify the document, but an agreement with Portugal for the return of the island in 1999 ensured that the pact would continue to apply – as happened in Hong Kong, a former British colony.
The committee’s response came last Wednesday (27), in a ten-page report that expresses concern about restrictions on freedom of expression and of the press, as well as around low civil participation in matters of public interest.
The notes dialogue with the main topics written in the civil report by Chao, who spoke with the Sheet by video call.
The Macau administration said it remained committed to applying the provisions of the pact, but criticized what it called the politicization of the case. “The committee needs to maintain constructive dialogue, avoid ‘politicizing’ considerations and refrain from drawing biased and inaccurate conclusions based on unsubstantiated reports or sources of information,” the government said in a statement.
The civil society document, among other points, recalls that 21 candidates in last year’s legislative elections were disqualified for not being considered “loyal to Macau”. It was the first time that candidates had their names barred even before they contested the election, according to the material.
The report also expresses concern about the repression of mobilizations critical of the local administration and Beijing and recalls a 2009 law that made a crime, punishable by 10 to 25 years in prison, practices considered attempts to overthrow the government.
There are also criticisms of the low guarantee of rights for the LGBTQIA+ population, to which the UN report echoes. Claiming a lack of “national consensus”, Macau does not allow transgender people to rectify their names on documents and does not extend the protection of the law against domestic violence to same-sex couples.
Chao co-founded Rainbow of Macau, the first pro-LGBT rights organization in the region. He also presided over the pro-democracy Nova Macau Association and twice ran for the local Assembly, without success. She moved in 2017 to Europe to pursue graduate studies. “The mentality of the population is closer to the population of mainland China,” she says. “Autonomy and freedoms are not the core values, as in Hong Kong.”
The climate has been changing between the new generations, but in a timid way. “If you ask at random, ‘Do you want democracy, freedom of expression, etc.?’ you’ll probably hear yes; but when you ask, ‘Okay, how much would you sacrifice to fight for this?’, the answer will be empty.”
Part of the explanation, he suggests, lies in the nearly 450 years of colonization by Portugal, which, when it returned Macau to China, relegated a public administration instructed to be obedient to the central regime — unlike Hong Kong, where the apparatus would be more independent.
There is also what he describes as oppression personified in economic strength. The biggest gambling center in the world, Macau has the bulk of its economy in casinos and state-owned companies. After more than 20 years of returning to China, there was no diversification, which was evident in the pandemic. In this logic, oppression would come through boycott: anyone who speaks out against the central government could lose their business or job — and finding relocation becomes difficult.
The activist, however, hopes that, as new generations occupy positions of power, conservatism and obedience will be increasingly confronted. Today, he serves as the director of Hongkongers in Britain, an organization that helps Hong Kong expatriates. And he makes a point of stressing that his opposition is not to Chinese cultural influence, but to the stifling of civil liberties. “I have nothing against China. But the current form of Chinese government is authoritarian.”
He went into exile because he understood that it was better not to return after the outbreak of acts in Hong Kong and the repression that followed.
