A mobile library for Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong
Lulu set up a mobile library in 2012 to provide books for Indonesian domestic workers because the Hong Kong library doesn’t cater for their needs.
Towering above Victoria park sits the Hong Kong Central Library, Hong Kong’s largest and main library was built at a cost of HK$690 million. The Library’s collections count up to one fifth of the Hong Kong Public Libraries System, which is 2.3 million items out of the total 12.1 million items.
The arch-shaped doorway at the facade altitude of the Hong Kong Central Library symbolizes the “Gate to Knowledge”.
These gates to knowledge are only welcoming to English and Chinese speaking Hong Kongers. If you wish to rent out a book in Tagalog or Bahasa, you won’t be able to do so.
Lulu sits under the flyover just across the road, where two years ago she set up the “Bai Perpustakaan” a mobile library to provide books for those looking to read in Bahasa Indonesian.
Books can be rented for free and people are allowed to keep their books for up to two weeks. Donations are accepted and funds received to purchase new books. The most popular generes in Lulu’s library are motivation and religion.
“I set this up last year as many helpers weren’t able to get a library card and the library doesn’t have many books in Bahasa. My employer doesn’t live in Hong Kong so I wasn’t able to get (my employer) to sign permission for me to attain a library card.” This story isn’t uncommon. Many domestic workers have been unable to get library cards because some employers have refused to allow their to use their apartment as a proof of address, or employers are not available to sign the application form. The rules are different for other foreign workers in Hong Kong, who don’t need their employers to sign their application forms.
The enormous Hong Kong library houses millions of books, but few are accessible to domestic workers in Hong Kong.
Domestic workers are trying to improve their education but Hong Kong is failing to support them. The Hong Kong Central library has over 2.3 million titles, 750,000 of these are in English with the rest primarily in Chinese (out of the total 12.1 million items in the whole library system). The library doesn’t provide books in other languages, other than language learning material.
According to a library representative:
“We only serve Hong Kong’s two official languages: English and Chinese. We have language learning materials for international languages such as Spanish and French, but we wouldn’t have Spanish fiction, for example. We do have a few (7) books on reserve in Bahasa Indonesian, these can be requested but cannot be removed from the library. “
For Spanish and French speakers there thousands of options available, but for Bahasa Indonesian and Tagalog (Filipino) there are 53 and 7 titles respectively. Indonesian and Filipino domestic workers make up 98% of the city’s migrant domestic workforce of over 320,000. While there are just over 10,000 French migrant workers in Hong Kong, the numbers of Spanish migrant workers are even less than this. On top of the low number of Bahasa and Tagalog books, the available books are not available to take out of the library; making the HK library practically functionless for the city’s domestic workers.
Our thirst for knowledge isn’t quenched by what our passport says. On any given Sunday you will find at least 10 other mobile libraries like Lulu’s in the surrounds of Victoria park. The Hong Kong Public Libraries is “committed to promoting reading and encouraging the public to develop an interest in reading”. Are domestic workers not members of the Hong Kong public? This discrimination based on language is a shining example of how the Hong Kong government firmly keeps the domestic worker community as third class citizens. Education is one means in which a person can change the hand they are given in life. Deny workers that, and the status quo will remain. Hong Kong needs to do better and change the policy approach to domestic workers.
Lulu and friends busy working at their mobile library in Victoria Park
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The case of the tortured Indonesian domestic worker in Hong Kong is an apparent offshoot of policies that have become increasingly anti-migrant over the years
Not even the subsequent arrest of the employer, albeit on a complaint filed by one of her earlier maids, has completely appeased Sulistyaningsih’s supporters. (READ: Employer of Indonesian maid arrested)
They say authorities in Hong Kong should not treat this as just another case of an evil employer inflicting harm on her hapless domestic helper, but as an offshoot of policies that have become increasingly anti-migrant over the years.
Two such policies are often mentioned.
The first is the so-called two-week rule, which requires migrant workers to leave Hong Kong within 14 days after their contracts are terminated ahead of time. The second is the one that compels all foreign domestic workers (FDWs) to live with their employers.
Sugardi has worked in Hong Kong for 18 years. When we spoke to her we thought we finally had a success story on our hands, a woman who has worked with two employers in Hong Kong, been here for nearly two decades and has been able to build a life for her family back home. She was chirpy and spoke at length about how she is now planning to go home, even though the family she works for her feels like home too. Then we asked her if she has worked elsewhere, before the on camera interview she had mentioned working in Saudi, we did not ask her details of the work in Saudi. Her story is a true "stories beyond borders story", abuse is not limited to a certain race, culture or religion, therefore we should never allow it to be justified in those names.
Erwiana's case is now at the center of an investigation and protests by thousands of people who rallied in Hong Kong on Sunday to demand justice for the young Indonesian maid.
Allegedly beaten by her employer in a case that has sparked outrage and a police investigation into accusations of torture, Erwiana's plight has drawn attention to the risks faced by migrant workers in Asia and the Gulf regions.
Over 5000 people marched to demand justice for Erwiana. Susi came forward today, she is the second worker to come forward following abuse at the hands of employers. This is the beginning of the recognition that domestic workers are often abused by their employers in Hong Kong.
Erwiana Sulistyaningsih is a domestic helper who was tortured by her Hong Kong employer. Support her with a donation here or join the fight for justice.
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