| Behind the Election: A Tale of Miscommunication |
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| Features | |
| Thursday, 06 May 2010 | |
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On this crucial day of Britain’s general election, London’s Chinatown remains undisturbed. Young workers busily wheel supplies up and down the streets while middle aged restaurant owners greet guests with a familiar smile. Written across their faces is not the grand hope of unprecedented change promised by the prospect of eight Chinese candidates standing for election, but a mediocre acceptance of the here and now reality. Restaurant owners, suffering from the difficulty to attract workers, are traditionally assumed as being the group with most reason to vote, particularly because of their British citizenship. But interviews today revealed that only 1 out of 20 eligible restaurant owner is voting. “Not interested in politics” has become the normal response and if pressed further they comment that, “I have been around long enough to realise that whatever party gets into power has no influence on my life”. Some younger restaurant owners openly joke about politics calling each other voters in a teasing manner – a phenomenon I am completely at a loss with. Coupled with a grave tone of despair, their laughter suddenly revealed to me the seriousness of problems that the Chinese catering industry is facing - a result of immigration policies documented in the British Chinese Manifesto by the BC Project several weeks earlier. These young migrants’ dislike for serious political discussion made me question their awareness of people such as Christine Lee fighting at the frontier of British politics for their cause. Equally surprising is the opinion of those ineligible to vote. Apart from international students, almost everyone I spoke to believed that voting was paramount to making UK a liveable place for those who choose to make it their home.“UK citizens are afraid of foreigners stealing their jobs. But considering how lowly paid and physically demanding jobs in Chinese restaurants are, I don’t believe anyone would take them except for Chinese who need this money for survival and have no one else to turn to.” This highly emotional sentiment of Hong Wang, a Human Resources student, is readily shared by many Chinese students whose weekly legal number of work hours is capped at 20. Additionally, legislation that previously granted citizenship after 10 years of study was abolished last year. This caused many international students falling short of the tight work permit criteria to be trapped in unemployment or forced return to China. Having already built a solid career in China, Hong Wang took the brave step to experience UK’s globally renowned education. Yet her quest for knowledge has turned out to be a bitter disappointment in struggling to make the ends meet. She believes that her helplessness is inseparable from her inability to vote, “UK’s treatment of international students is unfair compared to policies of many other western countries and I believe voting is the best way to voice my concern.” Chinese international student organizations in the UK are gaining power rapidly in recent years as a result of support from the Chinese Embassy. Yet these organizations scarcely share the concerns of marginalised students like Hong Wang. Dejian Meng, vice president of the Chinese Students and Scholars Association (representing around 100,000 students), has not yet heard complaints of the 20 hour cap. Yusen Wang, president of University College London’s CSSA likewise does not see such policies as unfair. “I understand the views of those affected by the immigration policy change, but many international students intend to study for a couple of years and return to China. Citizenship after 10 years is rarely a subject of discussion amongst CSSA members”, he said. For those past the student age, immigration is the keenest topic. Amongst those I interviewed, Labour won 80% support out of those who disclosed their party affiliations. “I believe that I have a right to be in the UK just like British citizens come to my home freely”, said a lawyer originally from Hong Kong. Asked if he believes there to be a danger that immigration is been heavily focused on by Chinese voters to the extent that other policies are overlooked, he said “No, the survival of the British Chinese depends on immigration policies, and nothing can be more important. We may integrate into society fine but people will still speak about us as the immigrants.” Immigration also has a more contentious aspect – that of Chinese immigrant workers in the UK. Whilst the Liberal Democrats’ promise to grant all illegal immigrants citizen status seems popular, those I interviewed chose to differ. A self-employed elderly Chinese who has resided in UK for 20 years expressed his disillusionment with British politics: “Witnessing the last few elections, I have learnt never to believe politicians’ promises because they will forget them as soon as they get elected. Besides, harsh immigration policies are aimed at Islam terrorist threats, its impact on the Chinese is just a marginal side-effect.” Chinese voters also have a dislike for change, which again supports the Labour party. A shop owner said, “I do not particularly like Labour, but my life is alright now. Rather than uncertainty brought about by change, I’d rather grasp onto what I have.” A young couple confessed, “We don’t actually know much about Brown, but we do know that the other leaders have not been running the country. We’d rather have an experienced president.” Acknowledging that there are weaknesses in the Labour policies, Jinying Zhang, owner of a Chinese medicine shop, still supports Brown.“He was unlucky to encounter the credit crunch but I have faith in his abilities.” Jinying’s opinion on Brown’s bank bail outs is shared by many Chinese who proved themselves to be more rational than emotional compared to British voters. Many have called this election a historical watershed for the Chinese community, citing the eight standing candidates as the most obvious reference. But reading through my survey sheets I did not come across a single “yes” to the question if Chinese candidates in this election have focused enough on the needs of the Chinese community. Some expressed their particular caution to vote on party policies and not ethnicity of the candidates because Chinese candidates are powerless when party lines are rigid. Others believed that Chinese candidates do not have an obligation to their community – which makes one wonder how about the way they marketed themselves to us to win our support over the past few months? Loyalty to Chinese MPs is most markedly demonstrated with elder voters. Joseph Ho, manager of the Camden Chinese Community Centre, confirmed this trend in Camden. “Some elder citizens are not good at English and feel that they can better relate to a Chinese MP”. Having worked closely with Chinese elder citizens, Joseph also affirmed their willingness to vote. He said, “Elderly citizens are keen to vote because issues such as winter heating, tax and hospital affect them significantly.” Acknowledging that Liberal Democrats’ generosity towards migrant workers, Joseph nevertheless pointed out that these new citizens will need housing, education and social benefit, yet local community centres are already short on council grants. Joseph also believes that this increase in needs will not be met by a proportional increase in grants because during election years tax freezes have became the popular tactic. Moving away from London, a woman from Bedfordshire believes that that British politicians (ethnically Chinese or not) are focusing too much on Chinatown. She said, “Just because we are not under the spotlight doesn’t mean that we don’t have needs. In rural places some workers receive only £20 pounds a day and that is unacceptable!” With a husband as a politician, she is a loyal believer of the importance of Chinese people engaging in British politics and identified the lack of cohesion in the Chinese community due to geographical dispersion as a major issue. At the same time she also acknowledged a need for the Chinese government to help its citizens abroad. “It is ridiculous for the Chinese government not to recognise dual citizenship. I was forced to change my passport for travel convenience but I still want to be acknowledged as a Chinese and go home without getting visas like a foreigner.” From my interviews today, it appears that overall, people have diverse objectives and requirements, many of which are unknown or mis-communicated. Perhaps more attention ought to be devoted by our new government to understanding our Chinese community, as opposed to making promises that are unrealisable or unwanted. Cecily Liu |
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