I AM a longtime resident of Hong Kong. I work as an engineer and have a reasonably good income to support my family.
I have been here since May 1981, and I was quite proud of telling friends from other parts of the world how efficient and helpful the Hong Kong banking system was; until now.
Whenever I paid tax, I was always extended a tax loan by one of the Hong Kong banks, to be repaid in instalments. However, this year, the experience was quite different.
As usual, I applied for a tax loan. I approached 11 different banks. Each one turned me down, stating that I did not meet their criterion of being a permanent resident of Hong Kong. I was very surprised.
It is still another two years until 1997. However, the discrimination has already started. At least, I am assuming this is the case. Perhaps I am wrong and maybe it was just lack of experience, with loan-granting officers simply looking for three stars on an identity card.
Maybe they do not realise that the three stars only indicate that the card-holder is Chinese, and does not automatically mean anything regarding his right of abode status unless a letter 'A' is also included.
