THERE is a dangerous element of xenophobia creeping into the labour importation debate, and one which may be inadvertently aided by the Government's tough new restrictions on domestic helpers.
Its extent should not be exaggerated. The vast majority of those pushing for a complete ban on imported labour are clearly motivated by a genuine desire to alleviate growing unemployment. Yet, increasingly, some are seeking to pin the blame on the workers rather than, as should be the case, the policy under which they were allowed into Hong Kong.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in the case of the predominantly Filipino domestic helpers, with legislators repeatedly calling for a cut in their numbers and higher penalties for those caught working in shops and restaurants. Yet few bother to point out that most of those working illegally are forced to do so by their employers.
Now the Immigration Department plans to respond to this political pressure with legislation forcing domestic helpers to carry special identification cards. Such proposals are not necessarily wrong in themselves - many societies require their foreign labour force to carry separate identity documents - but it is questionable whether it is justifiable to impose such restrictions upon what is predominantly one ethnic group.
Many Westerners also work illegally in the territory and, unlike Filipinos, not forced to do so by anyone. Yet there is no suggestion they should also be issued with special ID cards. Worse still, by giving official sanction to discriminatory treatment of domestic helpers, such measures only encourage those advocating more extreme restrictions.
The Government has already bowed too far in their direction by excluding domestic helpers from Mandatory Provident Funds, so as to secure the Liberal Party's support for the scheme. But others advocate going much further, for instance denying domestic helpers the right to vote.