Racism and persecution of ethnic minorities will not help Hong Kong!

An illustration in an Apple Daily ad showing 

journalist Nabela Qoser as Lady Liberty

 

Sign seen at the "Justice for Yuli" protest rally back on December 7th, 

2019, whose message some Hong Kongers still need to hear

Remember Nabela Qoser?  The Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK) reporter who won the hearts of many Hong Kongers with her take-no-prisoners questioning of Hong Kong government officials, including Carrie Lam, is back in the news once more -- sadly for reasons that don't put her employers, or Hong Kong itself, in a good light.  More specifically, it has come to light today that she has had her 3-year-civil servant contract by the public broadcaster and been told to accept a new much shorter term contract (of just 120 days) or face dismissal, as an investigation into her conduct continues.

As can be seen by many people (including fellow RTHK staffers and journalists) being quick to condemn the decision and rise to Qoser's defence, this is an action that many people are unhappy with.  And RTHK found itself in the strange position of reporting on the RTHK Programme Staff Union chairwoman, Gladys Chiu, describing its action against Qoser as "unprecedented, arbitrary and non-transparent" and "an insult to everyone at RTHK" as well as the Hong Kong Journalists Association condemning the decision to terminate Qoser's current civil service contract as amounting to passing down a verdict without having a trial.

Ironically, just this morning, the blogger behind the Big Lychee, Various Sectors had shared a link to a piece asking if RTHK can retain its independence and vouchsafed re how amazing it was that RTHK "has still barely been rectified. The transition to propaganda outlet has barely begun.  As if it has some sort of magic force field protecting it from Leninist ‘serve-the-Party’ duties."

I hate to have to consider the following but did RTHK think that that it had a better chance of getting away with this kind of behavior because Nabila Qoser is of Pakistani ethnicity?  For even while she's a fluent speaker of Cantonese and is indeed a Hong Konger, she is not ethnic Cantonese/Chinese -- and, sadly, there still are too many people in Hong Kong who are apt to treat brown-skinned people less well than they would those with lighter skin tones.

As Exhibit A: see how ethnic South Asians living in Jordan and Yau Ma Tei have been characterized by those who really should know better in the wake of a Wuhan coronavirus cluster having been detected in the two neighboring areas.  And no, I don't think that it's a coincidence that the site of what could be Hong Kong's first ever pandemic lockdown is one with a significant population of brown-skinned as well as economically impoverished people. 

 

On a related note: South Asians are by no means the only ethnic minorities targeted by racist Hong Kongers during this pandemic.  See Exhibit B: Pro-Beijing lawmaker Elizabeth Quat's attempt last month to have a "weekend lockdown" imposed on domestic helpers -- who largely hail from either the Philippines or Indonesia, and only have Sundays off each week -- in her wildly discriminatory as well as unscientific attempt to fight the Wuhan coronavirus' spread in the territory.   

 

At the same time, there of course have been no calls made by politicians to lock up the dancing and singing tai tais (whose cluster is the biggest in Hong Kong by far) nor the hard drinking party animals (who are widely perceived to be particularly prevalent among lighter-skinned folks in Hong Kong).  Indeed, according to reports, those dance clubs and private clubs that have had members test positive for the Wuhan coronavirus have been allowed to stay open for far more days during this ongoing pandemic than, say, public beaches and cinemas.

 

Returning to the issue of race and ethnicity: it was hoped that lessons in cultural sensitivity, among other things, were learnt after a Nepalese man was wrongly sent from a Hong Kong quarantine center to hospital (instead of his son, who tested positive for the coronavirus) owing to a mix-up of "similar" names last April.  But it appears that many, including some people in important positions, have not done so.                      

 

For the sake of Hong Kong, including its ongoing fight against the coronavirus (which saw Hong Kong detect its first two cases exactly one year ago today and 61 more people confirmed to be infected in the territory today) and also injustice, more Hong Kongers need to learn these lessons, and as soon as possible.  To this end, here's serving a reminder that, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary back in 2014, the terms "Hong Konger" (also spelt as Hongkonger) and the less popular "Hong Kongese" refer to "

"a native or inhabitant of Hong Kong"

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/32634526.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

a native or inhabitant of Hong Kong", without reference to that person's ethnicity, skin color or any such physical feature.  And I dare anyone to watch one of my favorite Hong Kong movies of 2015, Little Big Master, and tell me that there are people in it who aren't Hong Kongers!  

"a native or inhabitant of Hong Kong"

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/32634526.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

"a native or inhabitant of Hong Kong"

Read more at:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/32634526.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst