Hundreds of Filipinos marched through central Hong Kong yesterday to protest a newspaper column denounced by the Philippine community as representative of racism they say is endemic in the Chinese territory.
Hong Kong columnist Chip Tsao (曹捷) made a public apology earlier this week, saying he had not intended to insult Filipinos with what he characterized as a satirical article poking fun at Hong Kongers’ poor treatment of their maids.
But hundreds of Filipinos still protested yesterday in the Central financial district. Marching peacefully, many wearing red T-shirts, they carried signs that said “No Chip shots at Filipinos” and “We are workers, not slaves.”
PHOTO: AFP
About 130,000 Filipinos work as maids in wealthy Hong Kong to help support their families back home. They make a minimum monthly salary of HK$3,580 (US$462).
In the article published on Friday in the weekly HK Magazine, Tsao wrote he was so angered by the Philippines’ claim on the disputed Spratly Islands, which China also claims, that he summoned his Philippine maid to give her a lecture.
Calling the Philippines “a nation of servants” that shouldn’t challenge China, he wrote that he would be forced to fire her in the event of a war between the two countries.
Protest organizer Eman Villanueva said Tsao’s column was an example of larger racism toward ethnic minorities in Hong Kong.
“This is also beyond Chip Tsao because Chip Tsao’s article is just a symptom. It’s not the main problem. The problem is racism. The problem is the unfair treatment of ethnic minorities in Hong Kong,” Villanueva told Hong Kong’s Cable TV in an interview.
Tsao said yesterday he had no further comment.
Philippine activists criticized the article and the Philippine government put Tsao on an immigration blacklist.
“He targeted and insulted the Philippine people, the Philippine nation and in particular Filipino domestic helpers in Hong Kong,” Villanueva said in a phone interview.
Philippine Foreign Affairs spokesman Ed Malaya said yesterday the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong had recommended that the ban on Tsao visiting the country be lifted after he apologized and “indicated interest to visit the country some day.”
DISASTER: The Bangladesh Meteorological Department recorded a magnitude 5.7 and tremors reached as far as Kolkata, India, more than 300km away from the epicenter A powerful earthquake struck Bangladesh yesterday outside the crowded capital, Dhaka, killing at least five people and injuring about a hundred, the government said. The magnitude 5.5 quake struck at 10:38am near Narsingdi, Bangladesh, about 33km from Dhaka, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The earthquake sparked fear and chaos with many in the Muslim-majority nation of 170 million people at home on their day off. AFP reporters in Dhaka said they saw people weeping in the streets while others appeared shocked. Bangladesh Interim Leader Muhammad Yunus expressed his “deep shock and sorrow over the news of casualties in various districts.” At least five people,
The latest batch from convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s e-mails illustrates the extraordinary scope of his contacts with powerful people, ranging from a top Trump adviser to Britain’s ex-prince Andrew. The US House of Representatives is expected to vote this week on trying to force release of evidence gathered on Epstein by law enforcement over the years — including the identities of the men suspected of participating in his alleged sex trafficking ring. However, a slew of e-mails released this week have already opened new windows to the extent of Epstein’s network. These include multiple references to US President Donald
LEFT AND RIGHT: Battling anti-incumbent, anticommunist sentiment, Jeanette Jara had a precarious lead over far-right Jose Antonio Kast as they look to the Dec. 14 run Leftist candidate Jeannette Jara and far-right leader Jose Antonio Kast are to go head-to-head in Chile’s presidential runoff after topping Sunday’s first round of voting in an election dominated by fears of violent crime. With 99 percent of the results counted, Jara, a 51-year-old communist running on behalf of an eight-party coalition, won 26.85 percent, compared with 23.93 percent for Kast, the Servel electoral service said. The election was dominated by deep concern over a surge in murders, kidnappings and extortion widely blamed on foreign crime gangs. Kast, 59, has vowed to build walls, fences and trenches along Chile’s border with Bolivia to
DEATH SENTENCE: The ousted leader said she was willing to attend a fresh trial outside Bangladesh where the ruling would not be a ‘foregone conclusion’ Bangladesh’s fugitive former prime minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday called the guilty verdict and death sentence in her crimes against humanity trial “biased and politically motivated.” Hasina, 78, defied court orders that she return from India to attend her trial about whether she ordered a deadly crackdown against the student-led uprising that ousted her. She was found guilty and sentenced to death earlier yesterday. “The verdicts announced against me have been made by a rigged tribunal established and presided over by an unelected government with no democratic mandate,” Hasina said in a statement issued from hiding in India. “They are biased and politically motivated,” she
RSS