By The SUN
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| Law issued the warning during a talk on Commercial Radio |
The Hong Kong government says it is looking into the possible liability of people raising funds to give financial help to domestic helpers who had been fined for violating social disgtancing regulations.
“Because this indirectly encourages foreign domestic helpers to gather, there is no need to be afraid of being fined,” Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong said in a radio program earlier today.
“Therefore, the Labour Department will consult the Department of Justice on whether legal action can be taken to stop these crowdfunding activities.”
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As this developed, a GoGetFunding campaign organized by one who wanted to be known as Helping Helpers, has stopped accepting contributions after raising a total of $107,012.
The website simply said: “The campaign owner has stopped the page from accepting further donations. Please contact them if you'd still like to donate.”
The campaign was started two days ago after several local and expatriate supporters expressed concern in a Facebook group over the $5,000 fixed penalty imposed on 17 FDHs who were found to have violated the ban on public gatherings of more than two people, or were caught not wearing a mask last Sunday.
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They pointed out that the fine was more than what most domestic helpers in Hong Kong earn in a month.
The campaign had earlier received publicity, and comments such as one sent by Savina Chapman: “Justice for helpers!! They should not be singled out for fines, we need to make sure they have protection in regards to covid regulations.
“Another contributor, Bianca Habana, wrote: “While the system may be cruel, it inspires hope seeing members of the community take action to help those who are disempowered by systematic racism.”
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Law, responding to a reporter’s question, referred to the fund-raising organizer: “I don't know if he has ‘good intentions to help people’ or maliciously sabotaging the entire epidemic prevention work.”
He added: “We must not be lenient when it comes to the overall epidemic prevention work—even if it involves endangering the lives of the families they take care of.”
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| Patrolling police officers were highly visible in Central on Feb 13 |
On Thursday, the social gathering rules were further tightened, allowing only a maximum of two people to gather in public, from the previous four.
The next day, the government issued a press release, which was reported by The SUN in Tagalog (https://www.sunwebhk.com/2022/02/fdh-pinaalalahanan-bantay-laban-sa.html), warning that police would strictly enforce the law that weekend.
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Law said: “Let everyone know that a fixed penalty of $5,000 is actually quite a pain, but we will enforce it strictly.”
Yesterday, Chief Executive Carrie Lam herself warned against violators, saying that no mercy will be shown them. She also announced that the fine will be doubled to $10,000.
According to the CE, the government learned that a lot of people still gathered in places frequented by FDHs last Sunday, despite the tightening of restrictions.
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Law said the Labour Department, together with the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, and the Leisure and Cultural Services Department (LCSD) “will work together and cooperate with the relevant consulates in Indonesia and the Philippines” to convince their nationals to follow the rules.
