HONG Kong politician Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee apologized on Friday for her controversial remarks about Filipino maids seducing the husbands of their employers, but insisted that she was only misinterpreted and she actually meant to condemn the sexual exploitation of maids in Hong Kong.
“I wish to tender my sincere apologies to all those who have felt offended by my article,” Ip wrote in a statement posted on her Facebook account on Friday.
“I treasure my friendship with the Filipino community. I look forward to an opportunity to explain to the groups which called on my office in person to tender my apologies so that any misunderstanding could be removed,” she said.
“I really wanted to make use of a face-to-face meeting to explain to them in person that I did not make the sexist or racist accusations reported in many media reports on my article.
“The sole purpose of my Ming Pao article published on 17 April was to raise a question as to whether there is widespread exploitation of Filipino maids in Hong Kong and to express my concern,” Ip said.
Ip said “my article was misinterpreted in some quarters has led many to believe that I was sexist or racist and was pointing a finger at the Filipino maids.”
“I strenuously deny such allegations. I have always been friendly to the Filipinos working in Hong Kong in diverse areas. I respect their hard work and their contributions to the Hong Kong community. I have treated my own domestic helper like family. The misunderstanding caused is deeply regretted,” she said.
A Filipino migrant rights group welcomed the apology and said it was an acknowledgment of the offense the migrant worker community of Hongkong took against her.
“We welcome this gesture as a sign of her acknowledgment that whatever the intent of her article was, it has obviously offended many people particularly our more than 170,000 Filipino women domestic workers and the entire Filipino and migrant community,” said Eman Villanueva, chairperson of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan in Hong Kong and Macau.
Villanueva, however, said they will push through with another protest march against “discrimination and racism” in Hongkong on Sunday.
“The message that we would like to foster during this march is that non-discrimination and an inclusive and harmonious society is beneficial not only to migrant workers but for all the people of Hong Kong.”
According to Villanueva, the controversy surrounding Ip’s statement “should also serve as a wake-up call to the Philippine government.”
“That as long as they promote labour export and do not address the widespread unemployment, poverty, landlessness and social injustice – our people who are forced to leave the country for survival will always be vulnerable and subjected to discrimination and exploitation,” Villanueva said.
Villanueva then urged the Filipino community in Hongkong to come out on Sunday and wear purple dress “to promote the rights and respect for the dignity of women and in particular, women migrant domestic workers.”
In their earlier protest in Hongkong, the Filipino rights groups Gabriela, United Filipinos in Hong Kong, Bayan-Hong Kong and Macau and the Asian Migrants’ Coordinating Body issued a joint statement expressing indignation on Ip’s portrayal of Filipino maids “as sexual predators preying on their male employers.”
“We did not misunderstand Mrs. Ip. We know her views on migrant workers and her contrary position on the rights of migrants throughout the years. But her recent statement is just too much for it insults the dignity of Filipina domestic workers as women and as a people.
“We demand no less than a public apology from Mrs. Ip to the Filipino migrants and people and to the entire migrant domestic workers community,” the group said.
