For those who don’t know about this, an important component of Hong Kong’s economy is the domestic helper.  Mostly female, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia, they come here on special visas and are expected to work a 6 day week and usually a 16 hour work day (or more) and in return are paid roughly HK$3580 (US$500)(not sure what the current legal minimum is) plus room and board and a plane ticket for a home visit every two years.  No matter how long they’ve been here, they can’t qualify for HK permanent resident status and if they lose their job, they have just two weeks to find another one or have to leave.

Many of these people are now banding together to protest what they see as unfair treatment by the government and demanding the ability to apply for permanent resident status after seven years.  The upcoming lawsuit has thrown the HK government and many HK residents into a frenzy.  The SCMP reports this morning that there is a “storm of opposition online” including, wait for it, a Facebook group.  The name of the group on Facebook is  ”Against foreign helpers obtaining right of abode. Protect the welfare of Hong Kong people from being seized” and that page has all of 1,200 likes.  Given the number of people in Hong Kong who are on Facebook, I’m not sure that 1,200 “likes” should be enough to even qualify for news coverage.

Who are the people who are against this happening?  People like, ahem, Movie Tam, who has written, ”Foreign helpers only come to Hong Kong to work. What makes them qualified to have the right to stay in Hong Kong?”  Someone named Pixer writes, ”The maids have `three lows’. Low education, low income and low experience, but they know English.  Employers will therefore tend to recruit them more as they will accept lower wages.”

Fortunately, there are also people with silly English names on the side of the maids.  People like Fish Ip, who is the  campaign organiser for the Hong Kong Federation of Asian Domestic Workers Unions.  Fish says, “It is quite unfair that other people living in the city for seven years can have the right of abode but the helpers never can.  People should look also into the core problem like the constitutional issue instead of making verbal attacks on these helpers.”

The maids fuel our economy.  The current state of our economy practically screams two income families and both spouses cannot go out and work without having someone to stay home to take care of the kids and grandparents and pets and plants.

As near as I can figure it, the fear comes from lower class HK citizens.  I suppose they are thinking that once a domestic helper gets permanent resident status, they no longer have to work as a domestic helper, they can go out and compete for other jobs.  But what jobs might they qualify for based on their most recent experience?  Hotel chambermaid?  Line cook or waitress?

My take on it is that these people have done the time and are just as deserving of resident status as anyone else.  And if you’re afraid that a foreign maid might take your job away, maybe you should be examining what’s gone wrong in your life rather than attempting to ruin someone else’s.

Addendum #1 – I think the attitude of some people on this is consistent with the mainland government’s approach to things.  As an example, the Chinese government attempting to spur on the local film industry not by investing in the kind of education that would lead to better film makers and better films but by keeping 90% of foreign films out of Chinese cinemas (years after joining the WTO to boot).  So it’s easier to be negative – to hate these non-Chinese or if not hate them, at least deny them what should be their basic rights because they know that they themselves can’t deal with the competition.  They can’t compete so they seek to push others down.

Addendum #2 – Assuming that Mr. Movie Tam chose Movie as his English name because he likes movies, now I’m wondering why half the male population here isn’t named Fucking.  Though that does increasingly seem to be the English name for Hong Kong’s Chief Executive.

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