Lawmaker Eunice Yung’s brief apology to Hong Kong’s domestic workers ‘just not good enough’ says migrant leader

Protesters marched for an hour in blazing sun chanting ‘we are not slaves’ before Yung says sorry for calling them an inconvenience and a health hazard in a meeting lasting less than 10 minutes

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Yung (right) receives a letters from representative of the city’s domestic workers outside the New People’s Party’s headquarters in Wan Chai. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 6:55pm, 27 May 2018Updated: 10:59am, 28 May 2018

Pro-establishment lawmaker Eunice Yung Hoi-yan briefly apologised to Hong Kong’s domestic workers on Sunday, and was immediately criticised for not going far enough.

The New People’s Party legislator said sorry after offending many of the city’s workers last week during a Legislative Council meeting where she called their presence in public spaces an inconvenience, and an “environmental hygiene” problem.

Her comments were labelled, “discriminatory, racist and offensive”, by several groups representing Hong Kong’s domestic workers.

The protesters marched from Chater Road in Central. Photo: Winson Wong

Eman Villanueva, who met with Yung on Sunday, implied that he did not believe the apology was genuine, and had only been made because her initial comments did not get the support she thought they would.

“She thought what she said [in Legco] would get support from employees, from people in Hong Kong,” said Villanueva, the spokesman for the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body.

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