2香港 英文报纸 新闻

Online race-hate crackdown

Patsy Moy

Friday, June 04, 2010



Hate words aimed at Hong Kong's ethnic minorities that have gone on the internet are drawing official fire and threats of tough action.
Words such as chap chung ["mixed" or "bastard"], "trash," "betrayer" and "beast" appeared in one blog.

Blogmasters and internet service providers are now being told to reveal the identities of those who post race-hate lines.

They are also being warned they will be open to criminal prosecution if they allow dangerous messages to appear on their websites.

Derogatory language "is a form of racial discrimination and vilification," Lam Woon-kwong, the chairman of the Equal Opportunities Commission, said yesterday in calling for action to bring troublemakers to book.

"The commission is very concerned that the invective and the intimidating and threatening comments may put ethnic minorities at a disadvantage."

The invective is "destructive to social harmony in our community," he added.

Under the Race Discrimination Ordinance, it is illegal "to discriminate, harass or vilify a person because of his or her race."

Any racist incitement involving threats of physical harm is a crime that can result in those responsible being put behind bars for two years and see them slapped with a fine of HK$100,000.

While the commission did not identify websites seen to be providing platforms for poison, a source said a message on adult.newsgroup constituted a dangerous attack on ethnic minorities.

There were also remarks against Fermi Wong W
ai-fun, executive director of Hong Kong Unison, which promotes the rights of the ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. The blogger, who signed in as "Cherub," referred to a Coroner's Court verdict on May 25 of lawful killing in the case of Nepalese Dil Bahadur Limbu, who was shot dead by a police constable in March last year.

"Police officer, you are gorgeous and brave," the blogger wrote. "Kill every chap chung you see. The court will follow the precedent and rule it as lawful killing."

Offensive words such as "trash," "betrayer" and "beast" were also used against Unison's Wong.

She was accused of spending money raised through donations to help ethnic minorities fight for legal rights.

Wong told The Standard that Unison has, since January, received e-mails that carried malicious remarks against her and the organization. Unison chairman James Keezhangatte will lodge a formal complaint with the EOC, she added.

The organization is also pleased to see the commission tackling hatred online, she said.

But Wong said the law, as it stands, does not protect people and organizations that try to protect the rights of minorities. "So we would like to appeal to the government to amend the law."