Chris Gelken has nearly 20 years experience as a photographer, writer, news editor and broadcaster.

For the past 11 years Chris has been based in Asia where he now works for Hong Kong's leading AM radio news station, Metro Plus.

Chris also contributes freelance material on a wide variety of topics to newspapers, magazines and radio networks internationally.

Click here for more of Chris Gelken's An Outsider Looking In.

Hong Kong: Domestic affairs

The contentious MFN trade status for China passed - but not without the expected yelling and screaming about human rights. Theatre for the domestic American market. Pure theatre. I wonder if those folks on The Hill really appreciate how silly they look?

The passing of MFN was welcomed in Hong Kong by politicians of every stripe -- from the so-called 'pro-Beijing' camp to the most vocal critics of communist China. Business associations, in particular those with Western roots breathed a sigh of relief. I'll take a leap here and suggest that none of those who were praising the passage of MFN are also supporters of human
rights abuse. Though a good many practice it.

When fallout from Asia's economic crisis began to filter through to Hong Kong last year a number of steps were taken to soften the impact on the local economy. One rather surprising move was to freeze the monthly salary of domestic helpers -- maids. Hong Kong's army of domestics are drawn from the quaintly described Third World or developing countries. We're talking Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia and mostly, the Philippines.

Before I continue, let me ask you -- the reader able to afford a computer and surf the internet - just what would you do for 500-bucks a month? Would you work 6-days a week from the crack of dawn to late at night? Would you accept a curfew imposed by your employer that prohibited you from staying out later than 9 or 10pm at night -- even on your day off? Would you accept the terms of two weeks holiday -- every two years?

Okay, so it sounds pretty awful so let me sweeten the deal. You get your food for free and a pokey little 'maids quarters' to sleep in. But remember this is Hong Kong where floor space is the most expensive in the World, so don't expect anything palatial, because even if you are among the lucky ones, you won't get it. A room smaller than a small bathroom is about the
average.

There are frequent stories in the media of maids having to sleep on the floor in the kitchen, of being abused physically and sexually. So why do so many thousands accept these dreadful conditions of employment and why is it legal? Because, according to conventional wisdom, the domestics are still getting a better deal than they would if had they decided to remain in their own countries. I guess the bottom line here is: it is okay to abuse a person's human rights and feel good about it, if we abuse them less than they would be abused at home.

The question still stands, though, why do so many accept the deal? Well, the majority of domestics send a fair amount of their salary back to their families at home. With Hong Kong's linked exchange rate that has so far protected the value of the HK-dollar, the effective amount the domestics are ending to their families has actually increased. Another good reason not to
give them a pay rise - they got a back-handed increase by the devaluation of their national currencies. The domestics accept the deal and don't take to the streets protesting their lot because - to them - it is a better deal than they'd get at home. 'Outraged in America' might be surprised to learn, however, that Hong Kong's domestics don't want do-gooder Western journalists or human rights activists carrying their torch and pointing out just how terrible things really are. They know things are terrible, but they know things could be worse.

Which is precisely why the majority of people who are intimate with China don't appreciate Congressmen and Senators playing to the domestic American market by climbing the high moral ground of human rights and pointing the finger at China.

And because American businessmen (and just about everybody else) who has the money in Hong Kong take advantage of the laws that allow them to have virtual slaves in their Peak and mid-Levels apartments. They'd look pretty hypocritical asking their maid to serve drinks and snacks at the weekly 'sob-sister' meeting of human rights activists.


Chris Gelken
23 July 1998
Hong Kong