The myth of multiculturalism in ‘Asia's world city’: incomprehensive policies for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong

Abstract

Branded by its government as ‘Asia's world city’, Hong Kong is described as ‘an open, tolerant and pluralistic community, and a city rich in culture and tradition’. However, beneath this ‘harmony’ lies the fact that majority of Hong Kong Chinese socially exclude many South Asian ethnic groups. The Hong Kong government similarly lacks a multicultural policy that encourages its citizens to respect other races and provides resources for ethnic groups to cultivate and maintain their well-being and cultural identities. In this article, the authors will probe into the actual depth of the Hong Kong public and government's self-image of diversity and tolerance and determine whether another reality is hidden behind the beautiful exposition. A discussion follows on the changed or unchanged scenarios influenced by public policies for ethnic minorities, who regard the city as their second home or were born here, since Hong Kong returned to China. Although Hong Kong has been handed over to China for 15 years, the legacy of colonialism is found to be apparent when we attempt to critically review the plight of ethnic minorities in the city through the framework of multiculturalism.

Keywords:

• colonialism
• ethnic minorities
• multiculturalism
• sinicization
• social exclusion

Acknowledgement

The authors thank the Research Grants Council for the sponsorship to the project (No.: GRF-HKIEd841609) and also thank Kwok Kim, Yip Wing-sze, Man Pik-ching, Leung Ka-kuen and Sheh Wing-ting for the research assistance.

Notes

1. Similar opinion of the Premier of Germany, Angela Merkel, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron, see http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/17/angela-merkel-german-multiculturalism-failed; http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-12371994 [Accessed 13 December 2011].

2. Including United Nations Human Rights Council, UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights as well as UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

3. http://www.policyaddress.gov.hk/05-06/eng/p29.htm, section 32. Meanwhile, in section 27, Donald Tsang still insisted that Hong Kong does not have any serious ethnic conflicts in comparison with other big cities.

4. http://www.eoc.org.hk/EOC/Upload/UserFiles/File/EducationReportE.pdf [Accessed 29 December 2011].

5. According to the Hong Kong Police Force, a half Pakistani named Lu Wendi is the only Pakistani police in recent years. He was assigned to Yuen Long where many South Asians lived (Ming Bao 2011a). However, the South Asian people in Yuen Long are mainly Nepalese and not Pakistanis. Most Pakistanis lived in Kwun Tong and Kwai Tsing, but not Yuen Long.

6. For instances, two street protests by Malaysian-Indians in Kuala Lumpur launched in November 2007 revealed that the Malaysian government had failed to tackle the problem of ethnic marginalization in the perception of ethnic Indians. Thousands of ethnic Indians marched down the street and confronted riot police in violent ways, which were rare events after the economic take-off of the country since the 1980s (Beech 2007). Cases of Malay-Muslims' civic disobedience in Singapore, though rather less hostile, still have been entangled with the long stable society for years since the past decade (Law 2003a).