Comments:

(1) Not that it matters, but article's from an approved source for
even someone as sinophilic as veteran soc.culture.china poster
PaPaPeng (if he's still around) -- the Asia times Online

(2) Quote: "[M]ainland Chinese, arguably the group most discriminated
against [in Hong Kong], receive scant protection from the new law."

Geez, I thought this law is supposed to be about discrimination?!

So no, it's NOT quite about discrimination is it?

Can it be about race then? "Racial discrimination" is such a
buzzword....

Really. Ladies and gents, you get it yet? "Discrimination" is just
merely another shriek for foul, another cry for 'unfair'! That is,
it's merely a pre-text, a tool, a mechanism, a device *for* the will
to power by the weak, by the losers.

(3) I'll patiently wait for those nice friendly human rights advocates
to rally *against* this law though. Afterall, what about the right to
freedom, or rather more precisely, the right of the freedom of
association?

Huh? Huh? Huh?

Look. I can reject an applicant, him or her, black or white, gay or
straight, Jew or Muslim, good looking or bad looking etc etc for good
reasons. And I have the power and can reject them for bad reasons.

And I can reject him or her for no reason at all.

In a free market, in private business, why should I be compelled and
*forced* to hire someone I don't want or like?

Why should I sit still and handover this basic human right of freedom
of association to satisfy some whimsical idea of 'social justice'
concocted by some pressure group or bureaucrat?

We'll wait for universal human rights advocates to come to rescue.

* * * Article * * *
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/JG15Ad01.html

Hong Kong's dirty little secret: Racism
By Kent Ewing

HONG KONG - This city's dirty little secret has finally been addressed
in an anti-racism bill passed nearly 40 years after Hong Kong signed
onto an international covenant against racial discrimination.

But pardon Hong Kong's minority groups as they pointedly refrain from
celebration. Their lack of enthusiasm is easy to explain: the Hong
Kong government is largely exempt from the bill's provisions, and
mainland Chinese, arguably the group most discriminated against here,
receive scant protection from the new law.

Those hoping to see Hong Kong develop into a more multicultural
society in the manner of Singapore and Malaysia will be disappointed,
but the legislation, passed last week by a unanimous Legislative
Council, nevertheless marks a milestone in this predominantly Chinese
city's relationship with minorities.

Although the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Racial Discrimination was extended to Hong Kong in 1969, a
succession of British governors did precious little to address the
problem, prompting complaints from the United Nations about the city's
lack of progress in establishing a fair society for ethnic minorities.
While the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) was established in
1996, a year before the handover to Chinese rule, it has been
predictably ineffectual because of the lack of any legal framework
that would have given it teeth. Now that framework is finally in place
- but there are still lots of missing teeth.

The good news is that, once the anti-racism bill is enacted,
"discrimination, harassment and vilification on the ground of race"
will be illegal in Hong Kong. That landlord who refused to rent to you
because you are not Chinese is now a criminal, as is the employer who
refused to hire you and even the taxi driver who refused to pick you
up. Racism has never been a nasty, overt affair in Hong Kong, but it
is nonetheless a deeply embedded part of the culture. The bill, it
supporters state, marks a turning point in changing that culture.

Hong Kong is a city of 7 million people, 95%% of whom are ethnic
Chinese. The remaining 5%% include Europeans, Indians, Pakistanis and
Nepalis, who can offer ample testimony to the city's long-standing,
casual form of racism. Hong Kong is also home to more than 250,000
domestic helpers from the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand, who
live on the fringes of society. All these minorities can take heart
from the new legislation.

As critics rightly point out, however, the law is as noteworthy for
what it leaves out as for what it includes. The biggest complaint
among human-rights activists is that the bill lets the government off
the hook. Many of the government's public functions will not be
covered by the legislation lest - or so government spokesmen claimed -
city officials face an avalanche of frivolous lawsuits from
opportunistic minorities out to make easy money. This exemption not
only goes against international practice; it also defies common sense
and, in the final analysis, means that branches of the government such
as the police and immigration departments cannot be held legally
accountable for racial discrimination.

In response to a storm of protest against the government exemption,
EOC chairman Raymond Tang Yee-bong proposed a compromise: rather than
submit to each of the bill's anti-discrimination provisions, he
suggested that the government instead make a general legal commitment
to promote racial equality. Even that, however, was too much for the
administration of Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen to accept,
leading to doubts about how rigorous the Tsang government will be when
it comes to enforcing the new law.

Those doubts were only exacerbated by the administration's insistence
that protection against language discrimination should not be included
in the bill. But, in a rare and embarrassing occurrence, even
government-friendly lawmakers turned against the administration on
this point, and a prohibition against language discrimination is a
feature of the adopted legislation.

In a telling omission, however, the bill does little to prevent
discrimination against recent immigrants from the mainland. To an
outsider, this may seem a small point - after all, how can recent
arrivals from the mainland be considered a minority group vulnerable
to discrimination when they are Chinese? And, indeed, that was the
government's argument for leaving them out. While, in the end, that
argument prevailed, it does not hide the fact that mainlanders suffer
some of the worst discrimination in Hong Kong.

Whether it's tour guides or shop owners trying to cheat them, teachers
who don't want to teach them or employers who don't want to hire them,
stories of the city's enduring prejudices against their brothers and
sisters from across the border are legion. Eleven years after the
handover, too many Hong Kong people still regard their mainland
brethren as rubes and social leeches who undermine their culture and
threaten their way of life. The irony of these outdated attitudes is
rich now that Hong Kong's prosperity is dependent on China's
continuing economic boom.

Ask mainland immigrants dwelling in the slum of Tin Shui Wai - aka the
"City of Sadness" - if they feel they get a fair deal and you will
most certainly get an earful. Government neglect is one big reason
that unemployment, crime, suicide, child abuse and general misery are
so disproportionately high there. The fact that these residents of Tin
Shui Wai are not an ethnic minority is a moot point. That does not
make the discrimination they suffer any less real. They are a cultural
minority deserving of protection in legislation that Hong Kong now
holds up to the world as a reflection of its progress as a fair and
humane society.

In the absence of any legal commitment from the Tsang administration,
Stephen Lam Sui-lung, secretary for constitutional and mainland
affairs, has promised "administrative guidelines" to cover the holes
in the anti-racism legislation. He has hailed the new law as a
victory, a conclusion with which most human-rights activists offer
qualified agreement, and EOC chairman Tang has called on everyone to
live up to the spirit, not just the letter, of the law.

That's the tricky part. For too many, there are letters missing, and
the spirit remains in doubt. Kent Ewing is a teacher and writer at
Hong Kong International School. He can be reached at
kewing@hkis.edu.hk.

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