HONG KONG: A government spokesman said yesterday that Hong Kong government is committed to promoting racial harmony, as he responded to charges that minority groups are subjected to insults, failure by employers to pay wages and discrimination at the hands of police. The allegations were the impetus for two weekend protests by members of the Filipino community and by a combined group of Pakistanis and Nepalese.

The spokesman noted that the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau has invited non-governmental organizations to apply for funding that would establish four centers.

The centers would help to assist ethnic minorities in their use of public services, and to organize language training programs.

The four centers, two in the New Territories, one in Kowloon and one in Hong Kong Island, entail start-up costs of HK$8 million. The operational cost is HK$16 million a year. The spokesman declined to comment directly on Sunday's protests.

The spokesmen also said the Race Discrimination Ordinance enacted last year should be fully implemented by mid year.

Ethnic minority groups in Hong Kong have demanded that the government and community show greater respect and act to eradicate racial discrimination in the city.

The Filipino group, most of them domestic helpers, decided to take the matter to the street Sunday, in a protest fueled in large measure by the remarks of Hong Kong columnist Chip Tsao, who called the Philippines a "nation of servants", in a satirical article published in HK Magazine.

Tsao apologized last week immediately after a furor erupted, saying his piece was satirical and was written with no intent to insult the Filipino community. However, Filipino Migrant Workers' Union vice-chairman Eman Villanueva said the article reflects the seriousness of the underlying racial discrimination in Hong Kong.

Tsao's apology failed to mollify the Filipino community. Villanueva, the organizer of the Sunday protest, said the Filipino community is well aware of the distinction between political satire and racist remarks.

In a separate development, Nepalese and Pakistanis protested outside Police Headquarters to demand fair treatment, Sunday.

The protest was a response to last month's fatal shooting of a Nepalese man during a confrontation with an officer of the Hong Kong Police Department.

The protesters demanded that police be impartial when dealing with cases, and that race should not be a factor in investigation.

(HK Edition 04/07/2009 page1)