Despite the HK$6 price mentioned on the cover, the Hong Kong edition of China Daily seems to be pretty much a free newspaper. Indeed, judging from the way the women distributing it thrust it into your hands on the pedestrian walkways in Central every morning, it is practically compulsory.
It mentions something today that we will be hearing more of: the bid by a group of Filipino domestic helpers for Permanent Residency in Hong Kong after having lived here for seven years. Other residents of Hong Kong who do not have Chinese citizenship qualify for permanent status after that period of time, meaning in effect that you never again need to apply for a work permit or visa, you cannot be deported and you can vote. Maids who have applied in the past have always been turned down, and now some are seeking a judicial review.
One of the conditions of getting permanent residency is that you have taken Hong Kong as your place of permanent residence, and the government may argue that this is not the case with Southeastern Asian maids, who typically have a husband and children back home. But there must be some ‘normal’ (typically lighter-skinned) expatriates who have left their nearest and dearest in the US or UK and still claimed their Permanent ID card. The government may argue that the maids are hired on two-year contracts – but again, so must many other expatriates who went on to get PR.
However, the Filipinos are doomed to fail. The Hong Kong Lawyer pointed out that, among other things, the local restrictions on foreign maids are pretty much in line with many other jurisdictions. Also, the government began sneakily taking precautions around 2005 or so, issuing maids with new ID card numbers and getting them, the next time they renewed their visa, to answer a devious pair of questions: ‘Have you acquired permanent residence in your country/territory of domicile?’ and length of residence in that domicile…
Answer ‘yes’, and you by definition declared that you had not taken Hong Kong as your place of domicile.
More to the point, however, it makes no difference what our local courts say. They are being asked to rule on the wording of the Basic Law, and if they come up with the wrong decision the government in Beijing, whose law it is, can simply pronounce a new meaning for the wording, under the rubber-stamp mechanism known as interpretation by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress. The prospect of thousands of Filipinos settling here and bringing their kids over horrifies the Hong Kong government and much of the citizenry. Even the most liberal among us must admit that it is hard to imagine how the Big Lychee could possibly survive the shock of an influx of incessantly smiling, energetic people with halfway-decent English.
The China Daily article seems curiously preoccupied about the apparent danger of these brown-skinned interlopers getting the vote, forming a ‘virtual Filipino Party’ and packing the Legislative Council. The truth is that they would form several dozen constantly bickering political groups that would get nowhere, but the writer’s concerns are interesting.
He is one Song Sio-chong. According to the database, he has sat on the board of one Chinese People Holdings (check out the titles of the press announcements for a clue) and on the Central Policy Unit (which these days is more of a United Front propaganda outfit than anything else) and teaches at the funny little Shue Yan liberal arts university. A quick rummage around Google reveals that he has also held some position with Mainland legal firm China Law Office and has been styled ‘Ir’ , the bizarre title adopted by inadequate engineers jealous of doctors. And he claims a PhD and LLD from Peking U. Other than that, we know little.
Song says it is just as well that the Basic Law is subject to what he calls ‘purposive interpretation’ (that is, Beijing can change the meaning of the wording at will) because the influx of Filipinos “would be disastrous politically and economically.” Among the calamities he foresees are double-digit unemployment among low-skilled Chinese workers here; if the effect of Mainland immigration is any indicator, he could actually be right – though he doesn’t mention that source of labour. He also fancies that welfare expenditure would double or triple; this sounds absurd on the face of it, though given the size of Filipino families anything is possible.
All that, and “more seats in LegCo occupied by foreign domestic workers.” In fact, only Chinese citizens, not other permanent residents, are eligible for direct election to the legislature, so Song is talking rubbish here. He doesn’t share his thoughts on all the evil Western barbarians who can vote in Hong Kong, but foreign-ness is certainly a problem. The brown-skinned hordes would, he tells readers, “be a strong political power in the HKSAR and have a vital role to play in the city under ‘One Country Two Systems’. I do not believe it would meet either the legislative intent or the very purpose of the Basic Law.”
And now we get to the heart of the matter. It cannot be the intent of the Basic Law, Song says, to ruin the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong. “Alas, the future of Hong Kong rests upon the hand of a few judges!”
The China Daily article is essentially an allegory. For ‘the dangers of people with brown skin’ read ‘the threat of rule of law’.
Click to hear ‘She’s In Hong Kong’ by The Thunders!
Racism is only something that happens to Chinese people, seriously. Stephen Vines had an excellent piece recently in next magazine about westerners and the way that they are regarded as being ‘ghosts’ in HK, ie, seen but not really treated as being HK’ers. However, to be fair to the Government, and whilst I do feel sorry for the helpers involved, there would be resource issues if the rules allowing PR to be given to FDH’s did change.
Perhaps this explains the obsessions of a subset of local women with whitening creams, using parasols on sunny days and/or going to the beach with long-sleeved pants and shirts whilst sitting under a beach umbrella (one might ask why bother going in the first place, but I digress), lest a wayward photon impudently mar their deathly-white skin and they be mistaken for the much looked down upon brown-skinned SEA’s they deign to look down their surgically altered noses at. Vive le revolucion!
So what is your opinion here, Hemlock ?
Are you seriously advocating PR status for all the Marias and Conchitas ?
Thank goodness that will never happen. They already screwed one country. Let’s leave it at that, shall we ?
To quote a little gem yesterdays sub-standard editorial; (Mary Ma)
“Perhaps there’s a dark horse candidate from the pan-democratic camp. But according to Wang’s conditions, its representative wouldn’t meet the first criterion – love for the country …”
I am sure many in the pan-democratic camp love the country (more so if they were not banned) it’s just the love of the CCP which sticks in their collective gullet which, is of course, the love that Mr. Wang Guangya means.
Perhaps if Foreigners and Filipinos love the CCP with all their hearts, and believe in the divine right of the CCP to rule China forever, then permanent residency and seat of the legislature will be forthcoming. I wonder if this sits well with Ir Song Sio Chong or whether there is something else?
When the Basic Law refers to eligibility for Hong Kong residency and the perks that go with, why, oh, why didn’t the Drafting Committee just tack on “… except for the darkies.” at the end of relevant paragraphs? That way, everyone would understand, there would be no applications for judicial review and there would be no need for “interpretation” by Beijing. And the end result would be no different from what is it now and it will remain.
There’s a very specific 20- rung racial ladder in HK.
I totally disapprove of it ( and some of my best HK friends are on the lower rungs*) but it seems to exist
* but not as low as rung 19
1. All HK Cantonese
2. All other Cantonese
3. All other Mainland Chinese ( except the Chiu Chow and the Shanghainese)
4. The Shanghainese ( except those called Henry)
5. Koreans (especially after Korean soap opera became so popular)
6. Japanese (but only grudgingly because their skins are fair and because they invented Japanese food)
7. English whites ( except the ‘FILTH’ who hang out in Wanchai bars)
8. American, Canadian , Kiwi and European whites (in that order)
9. Aussie whites and the English ‘FILTH’ who hang out in Wanchai bars
10. All other Asians with fair skins except the Singaporeans
11 Singaporeans who don’t speak Singlish
12.Singaporeans who do speak Singlish but don’t like LKY
12. Singaporeans who speak Singlish and do like LKY
13. Chinese Malaysians as long as they don’t know George Tan
14. All Asians with dark skins (except the Filipinos)
15. All Filipinos whose family own San Miguel brewery
16. All male Filipinos
17. All female Filipinos who are married to any of the above categories
18. All other female Filipinos
19. Shanghainese called Henry
20. The Chiu Chow
Not quite sure what awful thing the Chiu Chow did to be at the bottom of the ladder ( unless it was the invention of bat juk and HK’s superman ) But I was once warned when I started to drive in HK : you can knock down anyone except a Chiu Chow. If you knock down a Chiu Chow run for your life
7. English whites ( except the ‘FILTH’ who hang out in Wanchai bars)
8. American, Canadian , Kiwi and European whites (in that order)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Real Tax Payer, you missed out the various flavours of Eurasians that are present in Hong Kong… how do they fit in?
Jonathan Stanley: Good question. Probably below the Shanghainese and above the Koreans (? )
But so far there’s not many Eurasians in HK ( more’s the pity) , and most who are here are still at school age, being the product of recent mixed marriages , which institution is a very GOOD THING. If we were all the product of mixed marriages we would not have any rungs on the ladder at all after No 1 (except 19 ).
PS : Note that here’s two categories at position 12 . This is not a typing mistake. It’s a temporary aberration. There are only two people in Singapore who like LKY . One of them is now running Singapore and the one will soon be joining the Supreme Elder Statesman in the sky and advising him how to run Heaven
Ve vill send them east into ze General Government und concentrate them in camps …
“FILTH” = Failed In London Try Hongkong for those not in the know
Nothing filthy about Brits, except the News of the World and murdoch’s UK empire-in-the -Sun
Where do the Indonesians maids fit into that list – 18.1? And are “Indonesian maids who prostitute the kids under their care to Cantonese pedophiles/pederasts at the local playground” above or below that?
The Filipinas may generally be crazy ladies, but at least they are crazy *Catholic* ladies ie crazy within (Western) socially acceptable boundaries – unless you sleep with them. Not like those backwater village, black magic, menstrual blood in your drinking water, Indonesian ladies…
>>Perhaps if Foreigners and Filipinos love the CCP with all their hearts …
A FDH functional constituency seat will do
Sorry I let myself go there for a moment. But when I read that list (very funny, by the way) I got a flashback of all the English chinless wonders and the shandy drinking, poncy pricks, not to mention the squaddies, the ‘teachers’, the real-estate agents, the headhunters, the ‘bar managers’ and so forth, that I have met over the past few decades in Hong Kong. And then I make a mental comparison with the senior executives of Wall Street investment banks, MNCs like Microsoft, HP, Oracle and so forth, and I can’t but help falling on the ground etc.
Tiu Fu Fong : Please mind your P’s and Q’s when you talk about Indonesian maids … or were you in fact referring to the DAB?
Seriously ( for once) : we now have an Indonesian maid and she is a delightful lady and the best maid we ever had. 🙂
But sadly, I guess Indonesian maids share rung 18 with the Filipino maids. ( At least that’s one rung higher than 19