Misunderstanding Muslim Domestic Helpers

Many Muslim domestic helpers are misunderstood in HK

It was Christmas Eve, in the mid 1990s when I lived with my uncle and aunt in Hong Kong. They had a Filipina domestic helper who cooked, cleaned and looked after their two young children.

The helper had made some mistakes that day and my aunt was not pleased and wanted her to work longer as punishment, but my uncle intervened.

He said Christmas Eve was a very important time for Catholics like her and so they should let her go early to go to church for mass.

Employers assume helpers must obey demands

I don't know why I remember this, but it made me realise how important it was to be compassionate and understanding of others.

And now decades later after Hong Kong has brought in Muslim domestic helpers from Indonesia and yet some employers still do not understand or appreciate their employee's religious background.

Last week a Muslim domestic helper filed a HK$255,000 discrimination lawsuit against her former employers for requiring her to stop praying and wearing the jilbab, a full-length garment, if she wanted to keep her job.

According to the Quran, devout Muslims must pray five times a day, at dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset, and evening.

Apparently these kinds of disputes are common, and unions and employer representatives are calling for more dialogue between the two parties to reach a mutual understanding before signing the contract.

Nevertheless, despite discussions beforehand, domestic helpers feel like they are in a weaker position and feel obligated to obey their employers' demands.

"[They will think:] 'I hired you because I need to you work,' and that praying five times a day, especially for Muslims, is a lot," said Sringatin, chairwoman of the Indonesian Migrant Workers' Union.

She said many domestic helpers stopped praying or wearing religious garments to keep their employment records clean for future jobs.

Domestic helpers only have Sundays off

Some tried to work around their employer, such as praying when they are not at home, and only wear the hijab or headscarf when they went outside on their days off or for daily tasks.

Thomas Chan Tung-fung, chairman of the Hong Kong Union of Employment Agencies says the recent lawsuit suggests a lack of communication before the helper was hired.

"Many employers mistakenly think their homes are their private premises and have complete control over the area, but they forget their homes are also their helpers' workplaces," he said.

This just reveals how ignorant Hongkongers are when it comes to other people's religions and their lack of tolerance or respect of others. Their belief in being superior to Southeast Asians perpetuates to this day which shows Hongkongers' insecurity and inability to accept others.

It will be interesting to see how the lawsuit is processed through the courts.

Stay tuned.

More Reasons Not to Violate NSL

Tong is spending 9 years in jail, must pay HK$1.38M in fees

Last July, Tong Ying-kit was the first person to be convicted and sentenced under the national security law.

He was handed a six-and-a-half year sentence for the charge of inciting secession for carrying a large banner on the back of his motorcycle with the now outlawed slogan, "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times".

Tong on July 1, 2020 with the subversive banner

Tong was also sentenced to eight years in jail for terrorism, for crashing his motorcycle into a group of police officers on July 1, 2020, injuring three. Of his two sentences, 2.5 years will run consecutively, which means the 25-year-old will serve nine years in total.

Now a year later, Tong has been slapped with a massive legal bill -- HK$1.38 million -- for two failed legal challenges.

It is impossible for him to pay this bill, and crowdfunding will probably be considered aiding and abetting.

We already saw this happen a few months ago when domestic helpers in Hong Kong were being fined HK$5,000 (US$637) for not social-distancing because of the Covid-19 pandemic. There was no way they could pay the fine and an expatriate came up with a crowdfunding exercise called Helping Helpers to help pay for these fines.

Over HK$107,000 was raised in days.

Later the then Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong announced his department would consult the Department of Justice on the matter, claiming the fundraising effort was "maliciously obstructing our whole anti-epidemic effort".

Helpers fined HK$5K for not social-distancing

It is virtually impossible for helpers to pay these fines when they make a minimum salary of HK$4,630 a month.

The crowdfunding immediately stopped and all the money was returned to the donors.

So with Tong's case, it is obvious the government continues to weaponise the judicial system in a bid to further deter others into not challenging it in the courts.

In the meantime, in another sign that Hong Kong is suffering from a massive brain drain, job recruiters are having a hard time finding fresh graduates to fill entry-level positions across all sectors.

Anecdotally some recruiters said that previously their inbox would be filled with emails from young people looking for work, and now the tables are turned and it's the HR professionals trying to find anyone that fits the job description to go for the job.

They are not just looking for local residents, but also foreign students who have studied in Hong Kong, and know other Asian languages like Korean, Japanese, Hindi or Bahasa. 

Diverse pool of fresh graduates? Look again

Many have left because of Hong Kong's severe Covid-19 quarantine rules, making it very difficult for them to travel to see family or do business, while others are moving to places like the UK to start fresh.

In addition there are fewer international students interested in studying in Hong Kong. In 2019-20 there were 3,977, and 3,803 for the 2020-21 academic year.

Hong Kong is not a place young people want to be in anymore. And the government isn't making an effort to encourage them to stay.