'HK Becoming Ever More Hostile To New Migrants'

The Society For Community Organisation (Soco) warned on Sunday that discrimination against new immigrants in Hong Kong has been getting worse in recent years, with overcrowded hospitals just the latest problem being put down to their arrival.

At a press conference organised by the group, women who had moved to the SAR from the mainland complained they had been subjected to abuse by members of the public who noticed they spoke Cantonese with an accent. "Go back to China" is a common insult, one noted.

One of the more than 20 women invited to meet reporters said she felt that staff at public hospitals would treat her differently after realising she was originally from the mainland.

Soco noted that there have been growing calls from the public for a reduction in the 150-a-day quota for mainland migrants under the one-way permit scheme, with critics accusing new arrivals of being a drain on public resources.

But the group said, in fact, most new residents from the mainland find work and make a positive contribution to society, and only around 3 percent rely on CSSA benefits.

Community organiser Sze Lai Shan said mainland migrants should not be used as scapegoats for livelihood issues, such as the city's housing shortage or hospital wards that are bursting at the seams during peak flu seasons.

"I don't think the public or the government should let immigrants bear responsibility for ... [these] problems," Sze told RTHK's Iris Yeung.

"For example, on housing, most of them come to Hong Kong to live with their husbands. They already have a family in Hong Kong, they don't create new demand for housing."

Sze added that most new arrivals are young and don't add much to the burden on public hospitals either.

Last week, localist activists warned that the public health system was being overwhelmed by the sheer number of people arriving in Hong Kong on one-way permits.

A committee member of the Public Doctors' Association, Arisina Ma, said on Sunday that when planning the development of the medical sector, the government had failed to take into account the fact that many mainlanders with Hong Kong ID cards travel into the SAR for medical care, despite ordinarily living across the border.

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