Don’t treat helpers as scapegoats for Hong Kong’s struggling vaccine drive

Officious justifications for why singling out foreign domestic helpers should not be considered discriminatory are far from convincing
Instead of asking employers to ‘encourage and assist’ helpers to get vaccinated, the government should focus on getting the local population to sign up

Mark R Thompson

Published: 6:45am, 5 May 2021

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Covid-19 has too often brought out the worst in many societies around the world, particularly in terms of aggravating income, racial, gender and other inequalities. Hong Kong, despite its relative success in combating the pandemic, is unfortunately no exception.

The recent testing order for all of the nearly 400,000 foreign domestic helpers in the city, and plans (suspended after a diplomatic backlash) to make vaccination mandatory before renewal of their contracts is exhibit A.

Officials seemed blithely unaware of the irony that the timing of the testing order meant over 100,000 had to spend hours on a hot Labour Day on Saturday waiting in seemingly endless queues to get tested during a “holiday” meant to honour workers.

Officious justifications for why this singling out of helpers should not be considered discriminatory are far from convincing. Calling it a “risk-based decision” is an elastic term that could cover virtually anybody. The government asserts that since compulsory testing also applies to people in other high-risk industries, such as staff of residential care homes for the elderly, “there is no discrimination on race or status”.

But if there is truly no discrimination, mandatory testing would be applied either only to those helpers involved in elderly care or to a larger number of workers – both local and foreign – in a wider range of industries. Instead, the Hong Kong government has chosen to pick on the weakest, most vulnerable group of the population due to two unrelated cases of helpers with a mutated form of the virus.

03:08

Hong Kong domestic helpers slam ‘discriminatory’ Covid-19 rules

It is said foreign domestic helpers have chosen to work in Hong Kong and are not permanent residents. Thus, they should accept government policy decisions uncomplainingly. But this group cannot choose their status.

In 2013, Hong Kong’s highest court denied a domestic helper from the Philippines permanent residency although she had lived and worked in the city for nearly 27 years. The court’s verdict coincided with public opinion polls showing a large majority of Hongkongers opposed permanent residency for helpers.

The government also asked employers to “encourage and assist” foreign domestic helpers to be vaccinated. But what officials should be focusing on is how to get the local population itself vaccinated.

The Indonesian and Philippine consulates have been models of responsibility, undertaking campaigns to convince their compatriots to be vaccinated (and, before that, to engage in safe social distancing during holidays).

Yet instead of working closely with the consulates, these abrupt orders were issued without any apparent consultation. Thus, it is not a surprise that Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jnr said the measure “smacks of discrimination”.

There is a long list of incidents that have shone a harsh light on the treatment of domestic helpers in Hong Kong. The savage beating of Indonesian helper Erwiana Sulistyaningsih is just the best known of many.

While justice was eventually done, with her employer imprisoned, this “helpers’ safety matters” moment in Hong Kong was not enough for the government to enact broad protections.

03:04

From Erwiana Sulistyaningsih to Baby Jane Allas, abuse of foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong prompts calls for better protection

This is not to say there has not been some progress. Advocacy groups have played a key role in bringing everyday racism towards helpers to the public’s attention and have taken up the cause of wronged helpers as best they can.

Even Hong Kong cinema has highlighted the issue, with the 2018 award-winning movie Still Human starring Anthony Wong, a paraplegic, who overcomes the widespread prejudice in the city to gain respect and admiration for his helper, played by Hong Kong-based Filipina actress Crisel Consunji.

Despite low wages and often grim working conditions, being a helper is for many a ticket to the middle class, including paying for their children’s education and building houses in their home countries.

That this leads many of the women to leave children and spouses behind to earn money for a better life for their families is even more reason for them to be treated with respect and dignity. With childcare and care for the elderly largely “outsourced” by government policy to the helpers, they keep Hong Kong running.

Helpers cannot be treated as scapegoats as the Hong Kong government continues to search for a strategy to encourage the local population to get vaccinated while working to keep new mutant strains in check. This is just the latest episode in the too often ignoble treatment of this hardworking and invaluable migrant group.

Mark R. Thompson is director of the Southeast Asia Research Centre, City University of Hong Kong