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Bhavan Jaipragas

Regrets? We’ve all had a few. As I look back on my seven-year stint with Hong Kong’s leading newspaper, one of my regrets is not having delved deeper into the heartbeat of the city.
In 2016, I joined the Post, part of what was then an embryonic team tasked with crafting original features and analyses on Asia.
As a reporter, my lens was often focused on Malaysia and Singapore.
Even amid the seismic protests of 2019, my coverage remained trained on the region’s reactions to Hong Kong’s upheaval.

I had various opportunities, even outside work, to immerse myself in the fabric of Hong Kong society, but I let them slip away, perhaps – in retrospect – due to a misconception that there were far more interesting issues to explore outside Hong Kong.
If I could turn back time, I would have spent the last seven years building a depth of knowledge on Hong Kong’s race relations.
While scholars and journalists have investigated this area in the past, my personal curiosity remains piqued. The city may be overwhelmingly ethnic Chinese, but as any long-term resident would tell you, beneath this majority lies a complex tapestry of identities.
As we know, the ethnic Chinese community itself is not homogeneous when it comes to self-identity. And then there are the native ethnic minority groups, the permanent foreign residents, and transient workers from across the globe.
Hong Kong must move on from using brownface – just look at Bridgerton
All call Hong Kong home, but how varied are their self-identities? How do their interactions and connections, both shared and divergent, shape the city’s social landscape? If I were a metro news reporter in this city, that would have been my dream beat.
An exploration of race relations inevitably involves an examination of racism. While Hong Kong isn’t marred by racial violence on the scale of the United States or France, that doesn’t mean it’s entirely absent. My personal experiences in Hong Kong hint at racism’s subtle, yet persistent, presence.
The insidious nature of casual racism can leave one questioning their own experiences. Are you overreacting? Are you reading too much into innocent words or actions? Yet, instances of clear racial bias do occur.
Like the time a woman preferred to wait for the next lift rather than share one with me and a friend, or the numerous times I’ve been mistaken for a delivery person when entering restaurants or upscale residential buildings.


Long-term residents of Hong Kong, particularly those of South Asian descent, will likely echo these experiences.
A column I wrote in 2021 criticising requests by some for non-South Asian delivery men elicited a response I didn’t expect.
I got emails from South Asians and others – including ethnic Chinese Hongkongers – thanking me for highlighting this episode of not-so-subtle racism.
Because of these types of incidents and my own experiences in the city, I have often wondered about the self-identity of Hong Kong’s native-born members of ethnic minority groups.
Hong Kong’s gig workers should be treated with dignity, not racism
Is casual racism accepted as a small price to pay for a life in a city envied by much of Asia for its high standard of living?
These questions merit thorough investigation, not only by the media but also by the authorities. The city’s leadership of late has emphasised the importance of stronger ties with Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu alluded to this in his policy address this week as well.
It is indeed wise for Hong Kong to deepen its ties with the Global South.
Other Asian economies are doing the same as a way of hedging against an overreliance on Western nations too exposed to the ebbs and flows of the US-China rivalry.
But if Hong Kong is serious about being the meeting point of entrepreneurs from Hanoi and Mumbai to Riyadh, it must think hard about whether it is doing enough to signal to the world that it is welcoming people of all races, nationalities, and backgrounds.
Bhavan Jaipragas is the Post’s outgoing Asia Editor. Part of this commentary’s text was produced with the assistance of ChatGPT.


Hong Kong should be a city where wheelchair users are welcome

Hong Kong tourism industry eyes ethnic minority recruits to welcome Muslim visitors

Elderly from Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities learn to cope with hurdles through arts

Music and mutual aid help people from ethnic minorities in Hong Kong feel at home

Ethnic minorities in Hong Kong

Hong Kong must reflect on its everyday racism to deepen ties with Global South

People cross a road in Central, Hong Kong. Is casual racism accepted as a small price to pay for a life in a city envied by much of Asia for its high standard of living? Photo: Shutterstock

A protester holds an umbrella as police fire tear gas during a demonstration in Hong Kong on January 1, 2020. Photo: AP

Hong Kong rapper of Nepali descent channels pain of injustice into hip hop with ‘big didi energy’

Suski during her music video shoot of Big Didi Energy in Kathmandu. Photo: Handout

Suski during a performance at Rula Live in Lan Kwai Fong. Photo: Handout

Suski during a performance at Terrible Baby at Eaton Hotel. At the age of 27, the Nepali Hongkonger’s resentments have now taken the form of rap songs. Photo: Handout

Suski during her music video shoot of Big Didi Energy in Kathmandu. The Hong Kong University graduate had been teaching students, mostly aged 12 to 18, at a Hong Kong school for five years until August. Photo: Handout

Any Hong Kong housing solution must also serve ethnic minorities

The stairwell of a dilapidated subdivided flat in Hong Kong’s North Point district is seen in this photo taken in December 2011. Photo: Dickson Lee

Foreign domestic helpers must get fairer media treatment in Hong Kong’s new normal

Members of the Asian Migrants Coordinating Body meet the media after talks with the Labour Department for the annual wage review consultation, in Sheung Wan on August 9. Photo: May Tse

Singapore’s next president: ethnic voting theories ‘disproved’ by Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s landslide victory, analysts say

Tharman Shanmugaratnam (centre) gives a thumbs-up to his supporters while waiting for the results of the presidential election in Singapore on Friday. Tharman eventually won with 70.4 per cent of the vote to be elected as Singapore’s ninth president. Photo: Xinhua

Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. Photo: Bloomberg

Supporters of Tharman Shanmugaratnam cheer after polling concluded during the presidential election in Singapore on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Presidential candidate Ng Kok Song (centre) arrives at a polling station to cast his vote in Singapore on Friday. Ng won 15.72 per cent of the vote. Photo: AFP

A woman casts a ballot at a polling station in the presidential election in Singapore on Friday. Photo: Xinhua

Indonesian-Chinese who grew up ‘out-of-wedlock’ in Suharto era relive ‘trauma’ through new book

Film producer Ginatri S Noer (left) with author Grace Tioso. Photo: Handout

Perkumpulan Anak Luar Nikah (The Society of Out-of-Wedlock- Children) by Grace Tioso. Photo: Johannes Nugroho

Indonesian actress Sherina Munaf and actor Baskara Mahendra showing their copy of Grace Tioso’s novel. Photo: Handout

This Week in Asia

Opinion

While Hong Kong isn’t marred by the explicit racism seen elsewhere, that’s doesn’t mean it is absent – particularly for those of South Asian descent
In his final column, the Post’s outgoing Asia editor contemplates what the city’s rocky race relations mean for its Southeast Asia, Middle East pivot


In his final column, the Post’s outgoing Asia editor meditates on regrets, Hong Kong’s rocky race relations – and what casual racism means for the city’s pivot to Southeast Asia and the Middle East.


Foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Human rights

My Take

Racism and other prejudice

Diversity and inclusion

Identity

John Lee

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

My Take | Hong Kong must reflect on its everyday racism to deepen ties with Global South