It is also worrisome that some Hong Kong politicians have been riding on the issue and pandering on the deep-seated xenophobia of many locals just to bolster their chances in the upcoming elections. Fanning chauvinism has always been an obnoxious and despicable way to get publicity, especially for such narrow political ends and given the thin line dividing xenophobia and virulent racism. We need only mention the recent Right-wing terrorism in Norway to illustrate the destructive potential of these Hong Kong politicians’ insidious hate-mongering.
Anyone who has organized migrant workers in Hong Kong would know that inclusion in the Right of Abode ranks low in their list of demands. High on that list are higher wages, better working condition and the right to join organizations. The main factor that drove them to seek greener pastures abroad – their concern for their families’ welfare – is the same factor that keeps pulling them back to their home-countries, with the exception of a few who already live with their families in Hong Kong due to very uncommon reasons.
It is therefore the height of arrogance and condescension for the Hong Kong government to presume that majority of the city’s migrant workers are eager to forsake country and family for a lonely, hardscrabble and second-class existence in its territories. Such a presumption is one-sided and utterly disregards the migrant workers’ hefty contributions to Hong Kong’s economy and society in general. In one local study conducted by the Mission for Migrant Workers (MFMW) in 2009, it was discovered that FDWs spend some 50% of their meager wages in Hong Kong, a considerable infusion when taken as a sectoral aggregate. The productivity and quality of life of hundreds of thousands of employees and corporate expats in the city would also quickly deteriorate were these FDWs to leave en masse.
Despite the Hong Kong government’s myopic mindset, the APMM and migrant workers in the territories do not consider the selective application of the Right of Abode law to be a major cause for outrage. What we take issue with is the callously utilitarian attitude that underlies labor migration policies not only in Hong Kong but in all host-countries, one that finds nothing immoral about living off the backs of foreign labor and then treating them like dirt – as both social and racial inferiors. This is not only slavery; this is slavery-based racism.
We challenge the government of Hong Kong to convert its liberal claims into practice, and enact laws that harmonize with these claims. We further challenge it to provide good governance by protecting the fundamental rights of migrants and educating its constituents on the principles of humanity and multiculturalism, thereby enabling an environment that guarantees the economic, political and cultural rights of all regardless of race, class, gender, age and religion. Only then will Hong Kong truly deserve the title of “Asia’s World City”. #
