2013-05-21T09:37:46-04:00 Navjot Singh http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=navjot-singh Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Navjot Singh Good old fashioned elbow grease. tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2346577 2012-12-27T02:16:53-05:00 2013-02-25T05:12:01-05:00

Navjot Singh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/navjot-singh/
If you were a tourist then the local Cantonese people would love you because, of course, you are bringing in money to their economy by any means of tourism. Indeed, it can be expensive (the city's infrastructure eats your money faster than you can slam down a Starbucks coffee). Enjoy shopping in one of the many malls in Central, Kowloon, or the ICC building, go to the flower markets in Mongkok, and while away the evenings by having a drink at the Ozone bar at The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, and admire the beauty of this fast paced city.

However, lets the peel the skin a bit and see if that feeling would be same if you were actually living and working here. The answer is bluntly, no. Why? Because living and working in Hong Kong is a bit like being in a pressure cooker. It's ridiculously over-crowded for such a tiny city, prices for housing and transportation are over the roof (perhaps the most expensive in the whole world), and the language & culture can present HUGE barriers if you are looking for a job here as an expat (from my experience, Cantonese people generally favour recruiting their own people when it comes to white-collar corporate jobs).

Plus, when you are working and living here all you end up doing in your spare time is hiking or sunbathing on the remote islands because there is not much else to do after you have seen everything (and you won't have time to because you are busy working). There is a great potential for networking opportunities here, though the overcrowded atmosphere can present issues on that part too.

Don't get me wrong, it's not all that bad here. Hong Kong does have a lot of things to do and see all throughout the year, and plenty of festivals to immerse yourself in. There are foreign people with good white-collar jobs in Hong Kong. However, the average foreigner in Hong Kong with a good job tends to be invited by their company from their own country rather than being recruited locally (you can be employed locally too, but the salary would be localised too). It doesn't need a major survey to be done, or someone to ask Einstein for this fact to be proved. It's plain & simple, and obvious to the eye. The majority of the expats are white, and male (sorry to be stereotypical, but it's true, especially in the banking and legal industry).

Among some of the expats there is that stiff upper lip mentality too where all they know is their local expat pubs and expat ghettos, and they seldom mingle with the local folks. My guess is that this is perhaps a legacy from the colonial British days, and some people have not got over the fact that Hong Kong is not British anymore (it's true, just go and see for yourself in places like Lan Kwai Fong). Some of the professions held by expats in Hong Kong include Bankers, Airline Pilots, professional Teachers, Lawyers, Journalists, or working in the hospitality industry.

One of the key areas in which the city has had a negative image in recent years is that Hong Kong still lags years behind the rest of the world when it comes to preventing its citizens from racial discrimination. Hong Kong may be branded as 'Asia's World City' to push it's image of a multi-cultural centre for Asia. However, in my personal opinion that title should actually go to Singapore because Singapore is a country that promotes active racial harmony among it's people.

If you are in Singapore, you will come across white-collar workers from all backgrounds under the sun, however that's not the case in Hong Kong. Some people have commented that it's perhaps because in Hong Kong it's important to be fluent in Cantonese at the workplace.

During the early colonial period when racial segregation was de rigeur, white Europeans, especially the British, enjoyed a prestigious social status while the native Chinese served as their subordinates.

It's been 40 years since Hong Kong signed one of the first United Nations human rights treaties: the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Though in July 2009 Hong Kong did bring into effect an anti-racial law, the Racial Discrimination Ordinance. It's not sure if this law has had any positive effect. From my own personal experience, I can disclose that in Hong Kong it is very difficult to get hired for a job if your name is not English sounding or Cantonese.

The question here is, how much longer will it take to make Hong Kong live up to its anti-racism slogan of an "inclusive society in harmony"? Even their national airline, Cathay Pacific Airways, which claims the following statement 'Cathay Pacific is an equal opportunities employer and has a policy of full compliance with all anti-discrimination legislation', has been at the centre of racial discrimination cases in the past. The question posed again would be, how can an international airline claim to be an equal opportunities employer when hardly any of it's pilots or engineers, or cabin crew are black or from South Asia?

During the Colonial years, Cathay Pacific Airways was known to have an open canteen culture of racism. Quite a lot of people have mentioned that they only gave preference to Chinese or white people. However, most recently the airline came into a case of racial discrimination. In 2011, a British man claimed he was refused work by the airline because he was a Muslim (Daily Mail article here). There are many other examples of people being refused work on the basis of their name, and race.

If you happen to be here as a tourist on a Sunday then you'll be wondering why are there so many Filipino, Thai, and Vietnamese ladies sitting on every possible pavement, park, and even by the roadside? These young (mostly are young) ladies are housemaids, and Sunday is their official day off given by the government, and that's why they linger and rest all day on the pavements. It clearly looks a bit odd to see so many people sitting on the pavements, and under flyovers, but that's all the Hong Kong government provides them with. Indeed, most of the labour jobs in Hong Kong are carried out by people from South-East Asia or South Asia. Without being too negatively stereotypical, I would like to point that in contrast, the majority of the white collar jobs are carried out by people who are male, and white (or Cantonese). Some people claim that they cannot get good jobs because of the colour of their skin, while others argue, as pointed out above, that it is because they cannot speak Cantonese. So if language is the question, then you just wonder why those expat Bankers, Lawyers, etc. got jobs when most of them cannot communicate in Cantonese.

In China people often ask me whether I am white or yellow (somehow they cannot tell), and I get called all sorts of things under the sun (Mexican, Malaysian, Arabic, Italian, Spanish...you name it)...everything except being called British! Many Chinese people (Cantonese and others) remain unaware that certain forms of behaviours, gestures, and language are unacceptable in multicultural societies elsewhere. I totally sympathize with these people. In the past in Hong Kong one of the biggest-selling toothpaste brands was called Darkie, its trademark being a caricature of an Al Jolson-type smiling black man with gleaming white teeth. In time, protests from certain human right's groups eventually led to the name being changed to Darlie.

Before I came to Hong Kong and mainland China, I would not have associated the term racism with this part of the world because, of course, I knew what it was from my childhood in the 1980s and 1990s London. I knew that Chinese people have suffered racism themselves in the UK in times in memorial, so I was not expecting some Chinese people to be racist towards others. Of course, I am not saying everyone is racist (institutionally or otherwise- you don't have to be a member of any far right party in order to project racist views in form or another)..

I have never been exposed to any aggressive kind of racism, and I have not let this issue to have a bearing in my life. I never let it hinder onto my work or my career focus ever. I had friends from different cultures, and treated everyone the same.

Hong Kong is indeed a place of many faiths, however is Hong Kong a multi-cultural society or is Hong Kong a culture of multi-societies? There is the Sikh Gurdwara (Khalsa Diwan), Hindu Mandir, Muslim Mosque, Christian Churches, Jewish Synagogue, and even Buddhist temples. The funny thing is that most Cantonese people are not even aware of the existence in Hong Kong of these places of worships. I recall once mentioning to a highly educated Hong Kong-born friend of mine that I am going to the Sikh Temple for Sunday Service, and his response was: 'Sikh temple? Are you not talking about the Church in Kowloon?'.

What could possibly be the root cause for this? Why don't the local people understand different cultures, yet they proudly live in a city that is known as 'Asia's World City'? I was highly surprised as Hong Kong's education system is also one of the best in the world.

Now, I am not sure if the infamous Chungking Mansion in Hong Kong's Nathan road might be the root cause of this whole racial problem (or if race was the problem that led to the Chungking Mansions). The latter area is a prime example because it is full of South Asian touts selling all kinds of things from fake Rolax watches to homemade Armani suits. They have been there for years going back to times in memorial since the British colonial days, and most probably, they will be there forever. One wonders how they initially ended up there in the first place? I must say that their presence does give a bad impression for the whole community, and it could be that they are the ones who let the rest of the decent Asians down badly.

Read 'Ghetto at the Center of the World: Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong' by Gordon Mathews to get an idea. It's very common to be approached by a Hong Kong tout and be asked: ''Hello Sir, would you like a Rolax watch, Indian food, Indian/Chinese/Thai/Russian massage girl, a new tailor made suit?'. Could it be that perhaps because of these touts that some Cantonese people refrain to sit next to a South Asian person on the MTR, even if that seat is the only free seat in the whole carriage? (I have seen this with my own eyes many times- but I was not the victim!).

Therefore, my personal conclusion is that Hong Kong is 'Asia's World City' when it comes to welcoming tourists, but not when it comes to living and working in. In direct contrast to Hong Kong is Singapore, which is a truly multicultural country, and does provide a fair way for everyone irrespective of colour, cast, race etc.

I wish I could say better words for the latter part, but if I did not feel this way, then I would not have written it like this. You have good people and bad people everywhere in the world and in every nation. However, it's the sad collective thought of the people that can let the whole country down. It only takes one chance to make a lasting impression.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2149687 2012-11-17T06:01:22-05:00 2013-01-17T05:12:01-05:00

Navjot Singh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/navjot-singh/
Come August I found myself in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. I was in for a shock. Everything seemed different from what I had seen in books and had imagined China to be like. Surprisingly, I saw lots of cars, scooters, motorcycles and buses... more than one would see in European countries. Where were all the bicycles? After all, I was under the impression that China was the country of the bicycle.

If I had come to China in, say, 1950 or even the early 1980s, I would have seen people riding nothing but the traditional bicycle. For just over a hundred years crowds of cyclists crammed the dusty roads of Chinese cities--a pictorial representation as symbolic of China as the Great Wall. Sadly, nowadays, after decades of stable economic improvements have allowed the country's transportation infrastructure to modernize, the number of bicycles on China's roads has dramatically decreased.

Don't get me wrong. People still do ride bicycles, but of course, these are perhaps individuals who cannot afford a car or don't need a vehicle for one reason or another. This lifestyle turnaround--away from the bicycle--is a diminutive, but significant, landmark in the speedy revolution of Chinese life. Like so many other phenomena of 21st century China, the difference of opinion is showered with inconsistent arguments between social and economic classes, one that aggravates diverse thoughts and opinions among the Chinese about how their country is evolving both culturally and economically.

There are those who highly prize the modern automobile as a status symbol because they feel "my friend/neighbour has a car, why shouldn't I be able to afford one?" This mentality invariably leads to the poor old bike's decline, and in fact, its demise is heavily mourned by ecologists throughout China and around the world. Of course, there are also those (like me!) who long for a moment in time when the streets were not so crowded and actually wished to witness the "quiet" China before all these mean machines of power came into force.

However don't let me deceive you; the bicycle is not exactly Chinese history (yet). For students and the millions who live in the rural areas, it is still the primary mode of transportation. Astonishing as it may seem, there are still nearly ten times as many bicycles in China (580 million) as the population of the United Kingdom (60 million).

One main problem for cyclists in modern China is pollution. I spoke to Fulai Wu, 55, a former colleague of mine in Guangzhou who said: "It's just not the same anymore. When I was at school in the 1950s, the whole family used to ride bikes, even on weekends and even to go shopping. It was healthy and many people were fit. But now the air is appalling; we have to wear masks and everybody wants to buy a car." Wu's comments are not surprising; who wants to ride a bike if their health is damaged by soot and other pollution?

I have even met Chinese students in cities such as Shenzhen and Shanghai who think that it doesn't look cool to ride a bicycle. Unsurprisingly, bicyclists point the finger at drivers for causing accidents, pollution and generally making life a misery for cyclists in modern China. For their part, drivers are adamant that cyclists are irresponsible, annoying, and are the cause of slow traffic. Interestingly enough, drivers point out that cyclists do not need a license to ride a bike, and thus are responsible for causing accidents with cars.

There are many who believe bicycles should not be used because they want to see China moving forward as a developed country. They see the bicycle as a symbol of yesteryear. Still, others are adamant that the bicycle should be a national symbol of pride and could not be eliminated from Chinese roads even if they tried to do so. Nevertheless, the fact is, for better or for worse, everyone - to a degree 0 has accepted that the bicycle in China is a dying breed.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2142672 2012-11-16T19:00:00-05:00 2013-01-16T05:12:01-05:00

Navjot Singh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/navjot-singh/
There was a brief exchange of pleasantries and a summit-firm handshake between us to wish each other well for our future lives after school. Little did I know that our directions would be so different from that moment onwards.

After spending nearly six years in a British jail awaiting extradition to America on terrorist charges, Syed Talha Ahsan from Tooting in southwest London has now faced extradition to America after losing his appeal at the European Court of Human Rights, alongside four other terrorist suspects including the radical preacher Abu Hamza.

Born in 1979 in London, Talha, a graduate of London University's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), was arrested by British police acting on a US search warrant in July 2006.

US prosecutors allege that both Talha and his friend Babar Ahmad ran a radical website from south London, and they should be prosecuted on American soil because that website was hosted on an American internet service provider.

It is claimed they used the now defunct site - Azzam Publications - to upload extremist videos, raise funds for the Taliban and support other insurgents in Chechnya and Bosnia.

The pair were also allegedly communicating with a naval enlistee on the destroyer USS Benfold in the straits of Hormuz during the summer of 2001 and were given classified plans of the battle group.

The charges claim Talha provided support to terrorists and engaged in conspiracy to murder, kidnap, maim or injure, or damage property in a foreign country. It is also alleged by the Americans that Talha fought in Afghanistan.

Their website, with its material about "holy war" in Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Chechnya gives an insight into their activity and much of the material is still on the internet.

If convicted in the US, then Talha, who allegedly suffers from Asperger's Syndrome, could face the rest of his life in solitary confinement in ADX Florence in Colorado, a so-called Supermax prison where he has claimed conditions amount to torture, inhuman and degrading treatment.

His supporters, who have set up an ambitious 'free Talha Ahsan campaign website', claim that Talha deserves a fair trial in the UK rather than in the US.

The 2003 Extradition Act has been the subject of on-going campaigns in Britain, most notably but the alleged hacker Gary McKinnon, who won his right not to be extradited to the US. Opponents say it is unjust and a represents a loss of sovereignty.

My former classmate, who was being held alongside Babar Ahmed at the high security Long Lartan prison in Worcestershire, was known to pass time by writing poems. He denies any involvement in any terrorist activities.

Like most of the chaps that went to school with Talha, my initial reaction on reading his name in the newspapers in relation to terror charges was one of utter shock and just disbelief.

"Surely it can't be our Talha?" was the question on the lips of those who knew him well from his days at school. It's just something that you don't expect to read about from a guy who has been privileged with an elite education, softly-spoken personality, and a middle class background.

I would never have imagined on that summer's day in 1998 while taking the sixth-form leavers photo shoot at Dulwich that I was standing two feet away from a guy who would one day become one of the world's most wanted terror suspects.

At school I fondly recall him being highly intelligent, highly studious and very intellectual. He was a man with a polite and disciplined demeanour, who came across as shy and profoundly faithful to his religion but also a fantastic bloke who got along with everyone.

In the first indication of his strong beliefs around Islam, he started growing a wispy beard during the sixth-form but he possessed a shrewd personality that was enough to prevent, deferentially, questions of a too-private nature.

Alongside that came along a supernatural calmness in his manner combined with absolute respect for whatever his teachers and peers asked of him. He most certainly was not the eccentric type and definitely not vocal or aggressive.

I was not his close friend, but we attended some classes together and we shared a few jokes like most kids do at school.

Everyone in the school knew who he was, especially those who followed Islam because of his active leadership of the school's 'Society for the study of Islam'.

As a young man he was perhaps the most religious in the whole school at that time and as he grew older, Talha became more influenced by Islamic ideologies.

But he came across as a true scholar who threw himself into the articles of his faith, rather than organised fundamental religion. More often than not he could be seen walking with a text book clutched tightly in his hand, or studying in a corner seat of the school's library at lunchtime.

He wasn't a macho figure in any way, rather the opposite with a short yet athletic physique. During the latter years of his schooling, he seldom took part in any physical sports, instead focusing on spending his spare time either studying in the school's library, or organising community service trips to nearby hospitals and care homes for the elderly.

So how could someone with such glittering credentials end up being wanted for global terrorism charges? Could it be that his naïve competency have led Talha to become an easy target for those who wanted to use his educated mindset? Or could he have been brainwashed and swindled into a downward spiral where he ended up becoming socially incompetent and engaged with the wrong personalities? Maybe.

It's difficult to know, and the sad fact is that we may not know real truth for a very long time.

Maybe something or someone outside school influenced his approach. Though not politically motivated he was keenly engaged when prominent political personalities visited the school.

A particular moment sticks out. When the former UK Foreign Secretary Lord Douglas Hurd gave a speech at the school's Great Hall in 1997, Talha fired a barrage of questions relating to Kashmir, and the border disputes between Israel and Palestine.

The subject seemed to be very close to his heart. Bearing in mind that this all happened years before 9/11 happened, and at a time when global security was not as serious a threat as it is nowadays, at that time I did not give a second thought. Now I am not so sure what to think.

Very little is known about what happened to Talha after he left Dulwich except that he went to SOAS and graduated with a first class honours degree in Arabic Studies. At the time of his arrest in 2006, Talha was actively looking for jobs as a librarian.

Former schoolmates have mentioned that both Barbar Ahmad and Talha used to attend the Balham mosque, and that's where their friendship blossomed.

The pair attended different universities - Ahmad went to Imperial College to study Aeronautical Engineering - but both men were involved in their university Islamic societies.

Whatever the circumstances, both Babar's and Talha's case is a stark reminder of the confused and conflicted identity of some young Muslims in Britain who are drawn into radicalism at some point in their youth.

Talha's transformation from being a gifted scholar to a global terrorism suspect would, in my view, have happened at university rather than at school.

It all echoes the words of the Home Secretary, Theresa May, who told The Daily Telegraph in 2011 that universities were not taking the issue of radicalisation seriously enough and that it was too easy for Muslim extremists to form groups on campuses "without anyone knowing".

Since the early 1990s, the growth of radicalism among students has led to quite a number of cases in the past where gifted university students have shocked the world by leading double lives as terrorists.

Examples in recent years have included Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab, a UCL student who attempted to blow up a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day 2009 with a device in his underpants, Yassin Nassari, a University of Westminster graduate who was jailed for three years in 2007, and Kafeel Ahmed, a Queen's University Belfast graduate who died of horrific burns after driving a Jeep packed with gas canisters into Glasgow airport in 2007.

Talha and Babar Ahmad were both born in Britain, and both had a privileged childhood, but it's perhaps not as shocking that their paths at university have led them to such fundamental radicalism.

That is to say, they both appear to share the thoughts of young British Muslims, who are longing to belong, but are struggling to find anything in British society with which they could strongly identify.

Whatever may have happened to him after school, one thing is for sure is that every time I see that school photo the thought keeps coming to my mind, could this chap I used to sit next to at school really have become one of the world's most wanted terrorism suspects?

I clearly remember his complements just after that school photo was taken. 'Keep in touch. I'll probably see you in 10 years time at a school reunion or somewhere similar,' said Talha.

It is a disastrous turn in his life that he has ended up like this. What could possibly have triggered this man to go from the dreaming spires of Dulwich to the humiliation of a rotting prison cell? If anything, Talha's life is nothing short of stuff made out of novels.]]> tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2143116 2012-11-16T06:33:37-05:00 2013-01-16T05:12:01-05:00

Navjot Singh http://www.huffingtonpost.com/navjot-singh/
I am not sure if it was her being completely ignorant, or she was just not aware that Mandarin Chinese is also an Asian language. She went on: "So you live in China sir, and you speak Chinese...but is that an Asian language? I am specifically looking for someone who speaks Asian languages, sir". At that moment I asked her which 'Asian Languages' was she looking for. To my shock and surprise she answered: "I don't know, I just want to make sure if you know any Asian languages, sir. You said Mandarin Chinese, but is that an Asian language?". "Yes, of course it is". I said. "Are you sure? OK, I will give that feedback to the company then" She replied back with a rather unsure tone in her voice.

To be honest I was not surprised by her answers and the lack of serious global knowledge. We all know that for some strange reason the word 'Asian' is interpreted differently in different parts of the world. In North America, the word 'Asian' is referred to someone that is of oriental origin (Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese etc.); while in the UK the word is associated with people from South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal), and everyone else are known as oriental, or just as Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (in the UK).

Many a times in the UK when I have filled out an application form it normally asks you for your ethnic background (for equal opportunities purposes), and this is what it normally says:

"Please tick the one that applies to you:

Asian (Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Other);
Chinese
Japanese
Korean
etc.
"

For the geographically retarded: China, Japan, and Korea are all IN Asia; and Chinese, Japanese and Korean people ARE Asian people too.

'Asia' is formed of 48 countries, and extends right the way from Saudi Arabia to East Timor covering 30% of the earth's land (44,597,000 km2). Of course, within this area you have parts of the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, and South-East Asia. Nevertheless, despite all this public common knowledge, there are some individuals who think that China, Japan, Korea, and 'Asia' are different (I feel sad for you).]]>