Officious
John Dean, writing for the Secretary for Home Affairs (Sunday Morning Post, October 20), stated: 'Racism is an evil which should concern us all and the Home Affairs Branch is now studying the issue with a view to publishing its findings early in the new year.' He went on to invite members of the public 'with an interest in the issue' to contact him and share their experiences and views.
May I suggest that Mr Dean, as an officer of the Government, rather than adopting the academic approach of 'studying the issue' of racism - a subject which has been exhaustively explored by many before him - grasp the nettle and make his goal the identification and eradication of racist attitudes and practices in Hong Kong.
What better place to start throwing stones than in the Government's own glass house? The 'localisation policy' is the supreme example of institutionalised racism, and the laws of Hong Kong are peppered with other instances. The Medical Practitioners Ordinance, the Municipal Services Ordinance and the Immigration Ordinance, among others, make provision for the preferential treatment of certain ethnic groups. To see racism at work, it seems fairly obvious that any place where large numbers of 'foreigners' interact with 'locals' would be fertile ground. I can personally recommend a visit - unannounced of course - to the offices of the Immigration Department, where people of darker skin colour, with outlandish modes of dress and speech, are routinely treated with haughty disdain or, worse, with overt hostility and rudeness, while those of lighter hue are deferentially addressed as 'sir' or 'madam'.
It is only necessary to spend a few hours on the fifth, sixth and seventh floors, simply looking and listening.
I fully expect to read the standard letter of rebuttal from an Immigration Department spokesperson, but as one who has for many years suffered the officious arrogance of these so-called public servants, I can assure your readers that what I say is true. I extend an invitation to local students and teachers of sociology, who may rather more appropriately 'study the issue' of racism to undertake a project along the lines suggested. If you really care, and wish to help rid society of the evil of racism, don't leave it to the Government. The environment is one 'issue' far more tangible than that of racism, that affects everyone, not just 'foreigners', but what is the Government's record in that area? PRAKASH RAO Kowloon
