Interview | Zhong Tingyao pointed out that the National Security Law does not hinder the poll research: do not control fear and hope to fade out in 5 to 8 years

Political situation

Written by: Wu Zhuoan

2020-09-23 07:00

Last update date: 2020-09-23 07:00

The Democratic Party commissioned the Hong Kong Institute of Public Opinions to conduct a poll on the extension of office. The poll was officially launched on Monday (21st). The poll will decide whether 15 pan-democratic members will stay or leave.

Since the implementation of the "Minato National Security Law" at the end of June and the turmoil in the primary elections of the democrats, the outside world has been concerned about whether the "Chong's poll" led by Zhong Tingyao will be unsustainable, and even be "pulling people to seal the boat", becoming a swan song .

In an interview with "Hong Kong 01" yesterday (21st), Zhong Tingyao, Chief Executive and Chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Public Opinion, said that despite the rapid changes in the world situation, the Institute’s work and research projects will not be deleted or modified due to the National Security Law. "We have absolutely no agenda "put on stage".

Zhong Tingyao stated that he was not prepared for imprisonment and threatened that he would not leave Hong Kong even if he faced the risk of arrest in the future.

The 62-year-old Zhong Tingyao had hoped to retire in 2022. As the private research plan began to operate independently last year, he admitted that the chance of retirement as scheduled is quite slim. In the future, I hope that more people from civil society will collectively participate in public opinion research and inject new ideas into the research team. Power allows him to slowly reduce his personal role, paving the way for the success.

Zhong Tingyao stated that he was not prepared to go to jail and would not leave Hong Kong even if he faced the risk of arrest in the future.

(Photo by Zheng Zifeng)

The Institute will not delete or amend the research project

"Minato National Security Law"

. It was officially implemented in the middle of the night on June 30. On the eve of the pro-democracy primary election, the Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs, Zeng Guowei, threatened the primary election or Violation of the "National Security Law."

One night before the polling day, the police searched the institute’s office in Wong Chuk Hang on the grounds of investigating the hacking incident.

Although the Institute only provides professional support for the primary elections and is not the organizer of the primary elections, many organizations still demand that Zhong Tingyao be brought to justice.

In a series of events, the Institute seemed to be involved in a political whirlpool.

Zhong Tingyao first pointed out that the world situation has become faster, but he has not changed his thoughts and practices. After the implementation of the National Security Law, the Institute assumes that all the ongoing research work is legal, and there is no discussion about removing certain items. , And will not modify the research topic due to the National Security Law, describing that these discussions are not on the research agenda at all.

He continued that it is only September and the National Security Law has only been implemented for three months. The impact on the operation of society is still unknown. Many cases have not yet been formally judged. When there is no clear and affirmative legal opinion, certain things cannot be done. , All work is business as usual, including the investigation of the Taiwan and Tibet issues every six months since 1993.

Zhong Tingyao added that the private research project has been separated from the University of Hong Kong for one year. From the perspective of the research institute, there is no need to worry about the views of the university management, so they will not be afraid.

The interviewer demonstrated to the media the interview and procedures of the pro-democracy extension poll.

(Photo by Zheng Zifeng)

Zhong Tingyao: If the environment is so bad and everyone around me tells me to go, I won’t go.

As for the individual, Zhong Tingyao said that as an ordinary person and the chairman of a polling agency, he has no worries or fears. Instead, friends around him worry about him. "On the contrary, I saw my friends around me worry about me. From the perspective of goodwill Going out, worrying that I will not have to do the polls again, it is all out of goodwill and concern, I am not surprised ("National Security Law"), I said with him "Don't be surprised"."

After the implementation of the "Minato National Security Law", many democrats or those who tend to support democracy and freedom have indicated that they are psychologically prepared to be arrested and imprisoned.

Zhong Tingyao said frankly that he has not prepared for imprisonment, nor will he leave Hong Kong. "If the environment is so bad and everyone around me tells me to go, I will not go! But if many people say (tell me to go), I will start to think about it. Is it really possible (in danger)?"

The public opinion plan broke away from the University of Hong Kong last year and operated independently under the name of the research institute. In the initial stage of the institute’s operation, it used crowdfunding to raise 6 million yuan as a start-up fund for the first year to support some regular surveys, including bi-weekly surveys. The Chief Executive's popular opinion survey and the Hengchang survey had a crisis of insufficient funds in the middle of last year and almost "broken the cable."

Zhong Tingyao said that he has hired an auditor to write a report on the financial situation from May last year to the end of June this year. This fiscal year, he does not want to launch any more crowdfunding. He also pointed out that the current financial situation is "tight" to deal with regular investigations. "Political and social conditions have become very fast, and the National Security Law has been established. If crowdfunding is launched at this time, society will be even more burdened." He said that at the end of the year, he would decide whether to conduct crowdfunding again. .

Zhong Tingyao pointed out that methods such as cross-validation in polls and interviewers will evaluate whether the interviewees are credible, which is believed to avoid the problems of interviewees "speaking big words" and "running the game."

(Photo by Zheng Zifeng)

Send a message to society to listen to the voices of young people: I want to put down my body

In an interview three years ago, Zhong Tingyao stated that he hopes to retire in 2022 and conduct a large-scale participation review on the 25th anniversary of the reunification before his retirement.

Zhong now points out that at that time, Hong Kong did not expect drastic changes in two years, and the institute has been operating independently, so the goal of retirement as scheduled is very slim.

However, Zhong Tingyao still hopes to be able to make a good fight. He said that society should respond to the waves of the Yangtze River and push forward the waves. He hopes that through more people in civil society participating in public opinion research, more academics and intellectuals will promote the work of public opinion, so that the public research team can inject new strength. , Let him gradually reduce his personal role in five to eight years. "Maybe five years from now? Seven years from eight years later (retirement)? If 2022 does not reach (retirement), will he be able to add five more Years? It can fade away slowly, and the research team can gain new strength."

The series of ripple effects brought about by the anti-revision movement has caused many Hong Kong people to worry about the prospects and even hope to emigrate overseas.

When asked whether he was optimistic or pessimistic about the prospects, Zhong Tingyao responded with this: "Optimism and pessimism are good, the most important thing is to do better tomorrow", "Society changes, I can stick to my position, so that the situation will not get worse. So I will continue to do it; if there is a V-shaped rebound in society, we must take what we have on hand and do it better as soon as possible. If we use this as a goal, we will not have too many worries."

During the Occupy Central period, Zhong Tingyao served as a college superintendent. He had various contacts with many young people for a long time. When asked what he would like to say to the younger generation who are agitated by political and social conditions, Zhong Tingyao believes that adults should pay the baton and listen to the young. People’s opinions and voices, "We are beginning to retreat and begin to age. Young people may not fully understand us. They may not understand and understand well if we have the same ideas, but we have to determine that the seniors need to be involved, and society must do it anyway. Come on, we have to put down our body, no matter how much young people say they don’t listen, we have to listen, we have to lobby them as much as possible, but the society is ultimately its own, and it’s a lot more difficult. Respect."

Zhong Tingyao said that since the results of the primary election were leaked, the Civil Affairs Research Institute has strengthened its security efforts, including increasing offline work and not sending sensitive information via email.

(Photo by Zheng Zifeng)

The day before yesterday’s extension of the poll, 700 people were involved in the poll and supporters

of the legislative council’s extension of office talked about the recent democratization of the Legislative Council. Zhong Tingyao revealed yesterday that 339 samples had been collected on the first day. Half of them are supporters of the democrats, and 700 of them are supporters of parliamentarians participating in the polls.

Zhong Tingyao pointed out that methods such as cross-validation in polls and interviewers will evaluate whether the interviewees are credible, which is believed to avoid the problems of interviewees "speaking big words" and "running the game."

No longer pursue the outflow of primary election results

After the pro-democracy primaries, the institute conducted non-stop vote counting the next day. However, while the work was in progress, the results of electronic voting were leaked from the established media, which shocked the outside world.

Zhong Tingyao said that he has learned from information technology experts that if you want to conduct a post-mortem study on the "cause of death" to verify whether someone has invaded the computer of the Minyan Research Institute, regardless of whether the research is successful or not, it will cost six digits, which may be small. There was an internal ghost in the team. With resources tight, this "small unresolved case" ended here and no further study.

As for the degree of confidentiality of the extension poll, Zhong Tingyao said that since the result of the primary election was leaked, the Minyan has strengthened its security work, including increasing offline work and not sending sensitive information via email. He said that this poll was conducted Confidentiality work is the same as daily, and it is believed that even if hackers obtain data, it will not have much impact.

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