DO WE NEED legislation to prevent racial discrimination? The Government, echoing majority opinion, thinks not. But Hong Kong's ethnic minorities think otherwise.
At a gathering of Indian businessmen last week, most of whom have lived here for decades, there was a single topic of conversation - the prejudice people from the subcontinent feel they face in Hong Kong.
The publicity surrounding the recent incident at Hong Kong airport where the well-known writer, Amit Chaudhuri, was questioned by immigration officers, has brought to light other cases where well-known Indians have been stopped and searched. A singer and her accompanying musicians, as well as prominent businessmen, have all been taken aside for questioning.
Despite what the Immigration Department says, the habit of questioning travellers from the subcontinent is based on racial stereotyping rather than any objective criteria. If these visitors were more prone to working illegally, or overstaying in Hong Kong, then this increased scrutiny would be justified. But the Government's own figures show that visitors from South Asia rarely overstay, or even work illegally. Of the nearly 180,000 arrivals from India last year, there were only 68 cases of overstaying detected. This figure has been falling in recent years.
It is not only South Asians who complain about discrimination. Filipinas and even mainlanders claim they are looked down upon.
Clearly, attitudes like this will stand in the way of Hong Kong achieving its status of an international city which can attract the best talent from all over the world.
One method that countries like Britain have adopted has been legislation banning racial discrimination, imposing penalties on those who practice it. The Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, is opposed to bringing in similar legislation, and has argued that educating people about the evils of racial discrimination is a more effective method of tackling the problem.