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MEREDITH MCBRIDE

Ara (a pseudonym, as with other interviewees in this book for privacy protection), a domestic migrant worker from Indonesia, recalls a night she went out drinking with a fellow domestic worker in Hong Kong.

Stomach-churning images of 23-year-old Erwiana Sulistyaningsih surfaced on social media this week, once again shaming Hong Kong for condoning physical violence against migrant domestic workers. Erwiana was allegedly beaten, burned and tortured to such an extent that she was left in a critical condition.

I became interested in sex crime in Hong Kong several months ago when a friend mentioned that it was often not officially documented here because of a desire to keep crime statistics low. Hong Kong values its appearance as a clean, crime-free, safe city, open for international investment and travel. To portray it as otherwise could mean a drop in business and tourism revenue.