A Pennsylvania-based reader, Rocky Avila, e-mailed me the following message this morning:Exeter, PA
September 5, 2010
Dear Mr. Carillo,
After all, there is one among the survivors of the infamous hostage-taking fiasco who could possibly appease if not mend the volatile and deteriorating relationship among the Chinese and Filipino people. Miss Li Ying Chuan, a survivor, must be a broad-minded person of sterling character.
May this world have more people like Miss Li.
Yours truly,
Rocky Avila
“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain, but it takes character and self-control to be understanding and forgiving.” – Dale Carnegie Attached to the note was this forwarded message from Rosy Valencia to Rocky, copy furnished several people:
Subject: Translated paragraphs from HK article - beautifully written
Voice of Reason Excerpted/ translated from a long article written by Miss Li Ying Chuan and published in the major Hong Kong newspaper Ming Bao. Miss Li was one of the survivors of the hostage taking at the Quirino Grandstand. Her 67-year-old mother inhaled lots of tear gas when the police attacked the bus to rescue the hostages and was confined at the Manila Doctors Hospital.
The article, entitled “Do not turn our sword towards the weak as we seek justice for the victims,” presented a unique eyewitness account, from inside the bus, of the harrowing experiences the hostages went through. But what struck me about the article was the ending, which runs counter to the prevailing mood in Hong Kong. ...During our two days stay at the hospital many Philippine government officials and some other people, including the president’s youngest sister, came to visit and comfort us. To all of them I expressed my anger and demanded a thorough investigation to pinpoint responsibility, so that the victims and their relatives may get justice. The hospital staff did their very best to care for the wounded. I feel a deep gratitude towards them. I understand that they tried their best to make up for their country’s shortcomings…
Having returned to Hong Kong, I heard a lot of anti-Filipino statements from my fellow Hong Kong residents. Some people suggested sending home all the Filipino maids and let the Philippine economy suffer, as a way of getting even, and some Filipino maids were insulted in the streets.
I understand perfectly the anger towards the ineptitude of the Philippine government and police, as I have personally experienced these. But, what has the ineptitude got to do with the Filipino people? Have we forgotten how it was to be discriminated against? Hong Kong was a colony for many years, and the ethnic Chinese suffered discrimination in daily life and the system set up by the so-called “masters.”
Now we blame the Filipino maids who really have nothing to do with the hostage taking. They are in fact the victims of their own government. It was an inept government that forced countless Filipino women to leave their own children to take care of other people's children. Why do we now treat them as scapegoats for their government's ineptitude? Why is it that anger and pain have turned some Hong Kong people into racists?
I am reminded of what the great Chinese writer Lu Xun said: “When the brave gets angry, he turns his sword towards the mighty; but when the coward gets angry, he turns his sword towards the weak.”
The way to appease the souls of the victims is not to blame or vent our anger at the innocent Filipino maids in Hong Kong or the Filipino people. We must direct our anger to the Philippine government and police, from whom we must demand a thorough investigation so that those responsible get the punishment they deserve. We must also assist and care for the relatives of the victims so that they could move on with their lives. This is how we must show our concern for the departed.
In the long term, we must support the Filipino people in building a better government and a better society where justice reigns. This is the only way for Hong Kong to deserve its place in the international community as a truly humane major metropolis.
