Not Chinese skills, Hong Kong’s ethnic minority community is marginalised by the lack of a voice

Reading Time:2 minutes

Nepali students let their T-shirts do the talking, as they seek to raise awareness on ethnic minority rights, in March 2014. Photo: Handout

Published: 9:30pm, 9 Aug 2018Updated: 10:12pm, 9 Aug 2018

I refer to the report on a Gurkha veteran’s granddaughter who will take the issue of discrimination against ethnic minorities, including Nepalis, in Hong Kong’s education and job sectors to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva (“Hong Kong’s fight against racial discrimination goes to the UN”, July 31).

While most Nepalis seem to be happy with the news, as a teacher and education activist for Hong Kong’s ethnic minority children for more than a decade, I feel it does not bode well for our future.

We Nepalis have been living in Hong Kong for such a long time: it is our home. To make a noise outside, rather than solving our internal problems within our home, is not a course of action I can agree with. Social media responses of Hong Kong Nepalis on taking our agenda to the United Nations clearly point to fears of a negative impact and an escalation in discrimination.

Political representation is one of the main issues for Nepali community members in Hong Kong. We have zero representation across sectors. There are 431 elected district councillors in 18 districts, but no Nepalis among them. We are not among the 70 members of the Legislative Council. There is a 1,200 member committee to elect the Chief Executive, but not a single representative from the ethnic minority community, which makes up 3.6 per cent of the population. No commission exists to specifically address ethnic minority community issues.

When we do not have a representative in any authority that makes policies, what is the use of telling the UN about what is happening in education and jobs? What will it achieve?

Instead, we should try to bring our voice to Hong Kong government and the central government.