April 20, 2024

Alex o'Loughlin

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Hong Kong’s travel easing may be too little, too late

  • Viewers discuss regular travel, open up seashores and swimming pools, and racial stereotypes

Experience strongly about these letters, or any other areas of the information? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at [email protected] or filling in this Google type. Submissions should not exceed 400 text, and ought to contain your entire identify and tackle, moreover a mobile phone quantity for verification.

The federal government is established to permit non-people to fly into Hong Kong for the initially time in two several years, immediately after previously halving the obligatory resort quarantine for returning residents to seven days. This is an great announcement. But this city can no for a longer time expect to be the major vacation location it was.

A lot of international locations these kinds of as Thailand, Japan and other people in the West have been living with Covid-19, and no for a longer period impose stringent pandemic measures. For any overseas visitor, these locations are definitely a lot more practical and tourist-pleasant. These destinations involve our rival, Singapore, which has captivated business owners and business offices going out of Hong Kong, an huge decline in standing and expertise for us.

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Even with Hong Kong’s most current flight policy relaxation, Covid-19 restrictions stay, and people in the marketplace do not assume lots of travellers or businesspeople to check out.

Continue to, I fret about no matter whether the leisure will trigger a sixth wave of bacterial infections. Let us not forget that the fifth wave began with just a several imported circumstances but rapidly spread gloom and doom to all of us in the town.

When will issues return to typical and when can we ease all flight constraints and do away with quarantine altogether? No just one understands for now, but we must hope it takes place as quickly as achievable.

1 smaller phase is better than no progress at all. Although many of us and the Hong Kong governing administration want to reopen borders with the mainland to start with, the truth is that reopening initial to international travel is just a great deal a lot more possible.

Jack Chung, Sham Shui Po

Pink tape guiding pool, seaside closures?

Many letters have questioned the logic guiding the ongoing closure of community beaches and swimming pools, when the Omicron an infection threat at these outdoor services appears nominal (“Lam have to listen to science, not online users”, March 31, and “Exhibit proof of beach front and pool ‘dangers'”, April 20).

May I enterprise that the authentic dilemma is bureaucratic, whereby the lifeguards and other officers involved with the functioning of these amenities are “operating from property” – in line with other civil servants.

Charlie Chan, Mid-Degrees

Racial stereotypes not handy for any individual

Your Sunday situation carried a report about a area Television programme which has triggered an uproar: “Darker facet of race relations in the city”. The unhappiness centred upon the age-aged situation of racial stereotyping. Most likely the drama was not intended to portray ethnic minorities – in this circumstance our considerably-needed and most useful domestic helpers – as inferior or only suited to a particular line of work. That it gave offence is product. But how and why has racial sensitivity remained an challenge in our city so a lot of decades soon after the initial domestic helpers arrived?

Stereotyping goes again a prolonged way. Sixty or a lot more years in the past, any Filipino in Hong Kong would have been assumed to be likely a musician, an Indian or Pakistani human being would have been thought of as a guard or watchman, a Caucasian assumed to be unreasonable or a drunkard or overbearing, and Chinese from Shantung assumed to odor of garlic and be incomprehensible.

Brownface notion hole: we have to have to discuss about everyday racism

Points don’t look to have changed a great deal. There is still insufficient being familiar with of the purpose and value of those who have occur to assist, assist with and share our tasks and burdens. Maybe the almighty greenback has blinded us to the virtues, business, tenacity and loyalty of those people whom we interact to launch us from mundane, unprofitable chores so that we could run a a lot more profitable race to a far better everyday living. Just due to the fact we spend them does not signify we are far better, remarkable or a class previously mentioned. Have we or dare we check with our domestic helpers or any member of the other ethnic minority teams how they may well stereotype us?

Equality might indicate different items to unique people but fairness is in everyone’s coronary heart. Let’s be fair: do unto other folks as you would on your own.

James A. Elms, Wan Chai

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This posting originally appeared on the South China Morning Article (www.scmp.com), the leading information media reporting on China and Asia.

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