Feel strongly about this letter, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form . Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification. The argument against the claim that the current discriminatory labour laws applying to domestic helpers are unfair seems to be that since there are still lots of people from Southeast Asian countries voluntarily applying for jobs as domestic helpers, the laws must be fair. The proponents of the discriminatory laws seem to have the mistaken idea that Hobson’s choice is a free choice. How can a choice be free when it is between feeding their family and being discriminated against? When the choice is not free, it cannot be used to justify an unfair arrangement by claiming that it is entered into voluntarily. The moral burden is on Hong Kong society to justify why it is okay to require only domestic helpers to live with their bosses and earn below the minimum wage while no other foreign workers are subject to the same requirement. The claim that such rules help Hong Kong’s economy is myopic. As history repeatedly shows, inequality is poisonous. It inculcates a hierarchical world view in society where people are obsessed with perceived social and racial status lest they are mistaken for a lower class. True liberty and a sense of community is impossible when people habitually look down on those below their station and show servility to those above. Hong Kong’s society is sick, and social reform is urgently needed. Let us start by curing the cancer of Hong Kong’s original sin. Huan Liu, Sham Tseng
