Jason Chao

Jason Chao Chao Teng Hei 周庭希

president of the New Macau Association
Personal details
Political party	New Macau Association

Jason Chao Teng Hei (Chinese: 周庭希; pinyin: Zhōu Tíngxī; born December 12, 1986) was born in Macau. Chao is a voluntary social activist and LGBT rights campaigner. He is currently the President of the New Macau Association, the Director of the satire newspaper Macau Concealer, co-founder and member of Macau Conscience, an activist organisation and co-founder and member of Macau LGBT Rights Concern Group.^[1]

Personal life

Education

Chao graduated in high school in 2006 and started doing Bachelor of Arts in Communications at the University of Macau.

Work

Chao works as a part-time IT technician and software developer.

Political Stance

Chao is a leftist liberal and a democratic socialist.^[2]

Notable Social and Political Actions

2010

Elected as the president of the New Macau Association.

2011

In June, Chao campaigned against a high-rise building proposal that would hugely impact the landscape of the Small Taipa Hill, by holding a referendum.^[3]
In December, Chao revealed that government misled the public to respond in favour of putting more regulations on the journalists and news media at the consultation on revising the Publishing Law and Audio-visual Law

^[4]

2012

During the consulting period for political reform at Macau, Chao fought for universal suffrage in the election of Legislative Assembly and Chief Executive, by conducting survey, holding a referendum and going on a hunger strike. However, he failed to accomplish it under pro-establishment organizations’ overwhelming propaganda.
Chao exposed that the free Wi-Fi service provided by the MSAR government would decrypt users’ protected data and enforce censorship.
Chao co-founded the activist organization Macau Conscience in July with several netizens including Bill Chou, an associate professor at the University of Macau.^[5]
In November, Chao co-authored with Bill Chou the second annual NGO Human Rights Report on Macau for 2012.^[6]

2013

In January, Chao conducted the “Initial Survey on LGBT individuals in Macau”, which is the first-ever survey on the LGBT community in Macau, for the Macau LGBT Rights Concern Group.^[7]
Chao revealed the architecture of the new campus of the University of Macau was in fact a copycat of the architecture of Nanjing Audit University, which had been constructed a few years earlier.^[8]
Chao and associate professor Bill Chou had a video conference with the Human Rights Committee of the United Nations, in which they revealed the human right violations in Macau that were never mentioned in the report submitted by the MSAR government.^[9]
By invitation of the European Union, Chao visited the EU committee in Brussels and the European Council in Strasbourg in May. He is the first Macau citizen from NGOs to be invited by the EU. During his visit, Chao met with several EU officials and leaders of NGOs headquartered in Brussels.^[10]

LGBT rights movement

First involvement

In November 2012, the MSAR government withdrew same-sex cohabitants from the domestic violence legislation, leaving LGBT individuals unprotected under the proposed counter-domestic violence law.^[11] Later, in December, Chao and some of his friends founded the Macau LGBT Rights Concern Group, which marks the beginning of LGBT rights movement in Macau. The group then organized the first Rainbow Equality Parade, dedicated to fighting for LGBT rights, including the protection under domestic violence legislation.^[12]

Coming Out

In January 2013, the Macau LGBT Rights Concern Group conducted a survey over LGBT individuals’ situation in Macau. On the day the results being published, Chao announced publicly his sex orientation towards males.^[13]

Recent activities

In February 2013, Chao believed that the fact that the government banned same-sex cohabitants from being in the domestic violence legislation might violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Right since LGBT group should not be discriminated. Therefore, he sent a letter to United Nations Human Rights Committee, hoping that UN could intervene in this scenario.^[14]
In April 2013, Macau Rainbow was established; the Macau LGBT Rights Concern Group became an affiliated organization in which Chao is the spokesperson.^[15]
On the International Day against Homophobia, 2013, Chao, representing Macau Rainbow, held a flash mob at the Ruins of St. Pauls.^[16]