Puja Kapai Interviewed on Exclusion of Ethnic Minorities from Political Discourse in Hong Kong (HKFP)

"Off the agenda? Ethnic minorities feel shut out of Hong Kong's political conversation"
Ellie Ng
Hong Kong Free Press
19 March 2017

Philip Khan, a 54-year-old businessman, has few options in the fight against the injustices facing Hong Kong’s ethnic minorities – a cause he has pursued for years.

     His family came to the city from what is now Pakistan more than a century ago. He said his two uncles defended the former British colony against the Japanese during the Second World War, with one killed and the other seriously injured. Born in Hong Kong, Khan grew up in a public housing estate and attended local schools, where he learned fluent Cantonese...

     The language barrier is a common concern. In her 2015 report on the status of ethnic minorities, law professor Puja Kapai of the University of Hong Kong said the lack of Chinese language skills deprives ethnic minorities of access to information, thereby limiting their exercise of the right to full and equal participation in political life.

    “We often hear that the real news is in the Chinese media,” Kapai told HKFP. “Non-Chinese people are often told that our understanding of what’s happening in politics is either delayed or distorted, because our access to the press is [limited].”

    She also warned that limited access to information renders ethnic minorities susceptible to manipulation by political groups... Click here to read the full article.