HK lawmaker calls domestic workers gathering on their day off a ‘nuisance,’ urges the gov’t to act

Photo via Facebook.
Photo via Facebook.

A lawmaker from Hong Kong has demanded the government “find facilities or places” for domestic workers — including more than 100,000 Filipinos — to go on their days off, calling their use of the city’s public space a “nuisance” to the public and “unhygienic.”

New People’s Party lawmaker Eunice Yung took aim at the weekly gathering of many of Hong Kong’s more than 350,000 foreign domestic workers on Sundays at the legislative council yesterday, Ming Pao reported.

In questions to Labour and Welfare Secretary Law Chi-kwong, Yung said the large gatherings around the city’s parks, footbridges, and underpasses — where many domestic workers enjoy their one day off a week meeting, eating and chatting with friends — affected people’s daily lives and businesses.

She claimed it contributed to “unhygienic environment” in public places.

Responding to Yung’s question, Law said there were no plans to set up activity centers for domestic workers like the one that opened in Hong Kong Island’s Kennedy Town in 1994.

He also noted that foreign domestic workers, who largely hail from the Philippines and Indonesia, made a “significant contribution to the development of Hong Kong,” adding that they help local families with household chores, look after their families, and enable the local population to go out and work.

He went on to say that domestic helpers could apply to rent public venues and facilities like sports venues and community hall facilities if they want.

They are also PEOPLE who shouldn’t be brushed aside like second-class citizens, he could have added.

However, speaking to RTHK, Yung said she was disappointed with the government’s response and their lack of concern over the matter.

“I think it’s the government’s responsibility to find facilities or places for them to stay, at least to have somewhere to stay but not to cause nuisance to other parts, other people in Hong Kong.”

Yung, who was first elected to the city’s parliament in 2016, has become somewhat known for being the subject of public gaffes.

In October, netizens mocked Yung after she posted a video on her official Facebook account of her singing Paul Anka’s Diana.

According to EJ Insight, netizens mocked Yung’s performance, with some making fun of her Chinese accent and others saying she sounded like a wedding chaperone.

Now that’s a public nuisance.






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