Asia City Publishing Group (ACPG), publisher of the HK Magazine:
The publisher and editors of HK Magazine wish to apologize unreservedly for any offense that may have been caused by Chip Tsao’s column dated March 27. HK Magazine has long championed the rights of Filipinos working in Hong Kong. We note that Filipinos have often been unfairly treated in Hong Kong, and that they make an important contribution to this community. As a magazine, we would never want to say anything that would negate that belief. One aspect of a satire is that it can at times be read in different ways. In this particular case, many people have read meanings into this column that were never actually intended. We wish to assure our readers that we have nothing but respect for Filipinos, both living in Hong Kong and abroad.
So it’s an apology of sorts.
Note, however, that HK Magazine stands by its offending columnist’s supposed ‘satire’.
One aspect of a satire is that it can at times be read in different ways. In this particular case, many people have read meanings into this column that were never actually intended.
Yes and no.
Tsao is unheard from as of this writing and don’t expect him to say sorry.
The offending story has since vanished from HK Magazine’s site, so for those who missed the March 27 story:
The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the seven Chinese seamen on board. We can live with that—Lenin and Stalin were once the ideological mentors of all Chinese people. The Japanese planted a flag on Diàoyú Island. That’s no big problem—we Hong Kong Chinese love Japanese cartoons, Hello Kitty, and shopping in Shinjuku, let alone our round-the-clock obsession with karaoke.
But hold on—even the Filipinos? Manila has just claimed sovereignty over the scattered rocks in the South China Sea called the Spratly Islands, complete with a blatant threat from its congress to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China if necessary. This is beyond reproach. The reason: there are more than 130,000 Filipina maids working as $3,580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.
As a patriotic Chinese man, the news has made my blood boil. I summoned Louisa, my domestic assistant who holds a degree in international politics from the University of Manila, hung a map on the wall, and gave her a harsh lecture. I sternly warned her that if she wants her wages increased next year, she had better tell every one of her compatriots in Statue Square on Sunday that the entirety of the Spratly Islands belongs to China.
Grimly, I told her that if war breaks out between the Philippines and China, I would have to end her employment and send her straight home, because I would not risk the crime of treason for sponsoring an enemy of the state by paying her to wash my toilet and clean my windows 16 hours a day. With that money, she would pay taxes to her government, and they would fund a navy to invade our motherland and deeply hurt my feelings.
Oh yes. The government of the Philippines would certainly be wrong if they think we Chinese are prepared to swallow their insult and sit back and lose a Falkland IslandsWar in the Far East. They may have Barack Obama and the hawkish American military behind them, but we have a hostage in each of our homes in the Mid-Levels or higher. Some of my friends told me they have already declared a state of emergency at home . Their maids have been made to shout “China, Madam/Sir” loudly whenever they hear the word “Spratly.” They say the indoctrination is working as wonderfully as when we used to shout, “Long live Chairman Mao!” at the sight of a portrait of our Great Leader during the Cultural Revolution. I’m not sure if that’s going a bit too far, at least for the time being.
A basic, very basic, thing about communication is the relation between the sender, and receiver, of the message.
So Chip Tsao (real name Ko Tik) can very well hide behind the tag ‘satirical writing’.
We are well within our rights to tag him as he really is: A Moron.
There are now moves led by the Blas F. Ople Policy Center to trace Tsao’s Filipina “house assistant” to either repatriate her to Manila or find an employer who will treat her humanely.
Ople Center Executive Director Susan Ople says that based of Hong Kong’s labor regulations there is basis to prohibit Tsao from employing Filipinos.
He can very well wash his own dishes and do his laundry.
There are other points of view about this incident being a non-story.
Those holding such POV are surely entitled to their belief.
But when the day comes that we no longer value national honor is the day characters like Chip Tsao will move on to become more dangerous oppressors.
UPDATE:
Chip Tsao is now reported to have apologized through a statement broadcast twice last night over Hong Kong TV Network ATV.
GMA TV News online has this story:
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/155062/Chip-Tsao-apologizes-for-maid-country-remark
I crossed the line.
This was the admission of the HK Magazine columnist who branded the Philippines as a “nation of servants,” a report over dzBB radio said Wednesday morning.
DzBB’s Hong Kong correspondent Corazon Cañete said that Chip Tsao issued a public apology Tuesday night, which was aired over ATV’s 7:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts. ATV is a private television network.
“The ’servant’ is a sacred term. A Hong Kong government official is a civil servant. We are all servants to God, right? I’m now aware that I’ve crossed the line and I offer my public apology,” Tsao was quoted as saying.
Cañete reported that only Tsao’s voice was heard while a file photo and a file video of him were shown.
Popularity: 2% [?]
Yeah…. like the Filipina maid will want to return to Manila and work. She (the maid) has better academic credentials than Susan Ople herself, doesn’t she? :razz:
James,
I agree that ‘Luisa’ may not want to return home.
But relative to your other misplaced assertion, you don’t know what you are talking about.
Apology from HK Magazine is not enough. We should press further for the personal apology of Chinese Chauvinist Chip Tsao. On our part, we must also stop throwing all racial invectives against ALL the Chinese in general, otherwise we will be seen as behaving barbarously the way Chip Tsao does in the eye of foreigners. Obviously from the responses, there are also Filipino-Chinese who stand up to attack Chip Tsao and defend our maids in Hong Kong. Amid the furor, we should also pause and ponder why our country was branded as “Nation of Servants”. Why millions of us have to leave our family behind and work abroad subject to the discrimination and oppression of foreigners. This does not happen only in Hong Kong. Frequently reported are news of Filipina being raped by Arabians so forth and so on. And even our medical practitioners are being degraded in the dreamland of Filipinos that is USA! Cool Please!
G_ago pala yan si tsao, racial discrimination ang ginawa nya, dapat masampahan ng kaso yan. Magkano ba sinasahod nyan? dodoblehin ko sahod nyan maging katulong ko lang sa bahay 16 hrs a day, at lalaitin ko yang intsik beho na yan( Im A half chinese ). dito kasi sa mga bansang napuntahan ko mataas ang tingin sa pinoy kesa sa chinese. ang tingin sa intsik ay POKPOK.
Allan
UK & Dubai
How about sending all the chinese in the Philippines back to China and confiscate their ill-gotten wealth to be distributed to all the Hongkong maids that will be repatriated back to the country. I would love to see these maids become board of directors of Philippine Airlines and San Miguel Corp., owned by Lucio Tan and SM Megamalls owned by Mr. Sy.
How about sending all the chinese in the Philippines back to China and confiscate their ill-gotten wealth to be distributed to all the Hongkong maids that will be repatriated back to the country? I would love to see these maids become board of directors of Philippine Airlines and San Miguel Corp., owned by Lucio Tan and SM Megamalls owned by Mr. Sy.
Ummmm…how do we even know that there’s a “Luisa”? If she’s made to work a sixteen hour day, I believe that’s illegal in Hong Kong, so it’s unlikely. Luisa may, in fact, simply be a fictional character the writer made up as a foil for his satire. If you read the satirical piece carefully, you will see that it’s actually saying how much Hong Kong society needs our hardworking maids (hence the 16 hours, etc.) The rest is a not very subtle criticism of Chinese attitudes (nationalism, materialism, picking on the small instead of the powerful, the Cultural Revolution, etc.) Of course, people have a right to read the piece anyway they want to and to take offense if they so choose. Well, everyone’s said their piece. So let’s take the publication’s apology and be done with it.
Interesting conjecture.I’m willing to wait. :)
i have a website question. why is this story in the second column when it used to be in the first column…
the new layout is confusing :)
We’re still tweaking a great number of things Gabby, please bare with us.. I apologize for the confusion..
its cool… was merely making observations. take ur time
jcc,
Why do you refer as ill-gotten wealth whatever the Chinese has accumulated here in the Philippines?
That is unfounded.
You must be over-acting in suggesting to move out of this country all the Chinese who live here and who run business of their own.
Again, that is unfounded.
Now you want our maids to sit as directors of San Miguel, etc. – that must have been satirical, if it does not carry the same racist slur that you wish to protect.
Again, that is unfounded.
Lucio Tan fronted for Mr. Marcos. Bongbong wanted to get back his dad’s millions from Mr. Tan when the Marcoses came back. Mr. Sy employs thousands of Pinoy sales ladies with a tenure of 6 months, allows the appointment to lapse after 6 months and rehire them after 1 or 2 months furlough so these sales ladies would not become permanent entitled to vacation leave and sick leave.
Chinese in Binondo it is said, controls the rice and vegetable cartels in Metro Manila and adjoining environs.
Now there are five chinese who were arrested in shabu factory in Laguna by the PDEA.
In my province of Camarines Sur, one Mr. Cosay controls the price of rice in the region.
I can say that Chinese in the Philippines have been exploiting the Pinoys and they should atleast show respect to the people who made them rich and not be condescending upon them.
If you believe in the Balzac dictum that “behind every great wealth is a great crime”, you can atleast appreciate the fact Chinese oligarchy in the country are not “immaculate” and sinless businessmen.
Ding,
Isn’t it clear enough in the story (thanks for posting) that it was Congress that created all this snafu by issuing what Chip states as veiled threat to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China, if necessary?
Unfortunately,we chose on purpose to be selective. We resent that reference to us as a “nation of servants”. Bottomline, Chip will find no reason to call us a “nation of masters” that we are not, can he?
We should be able to see from which tree the root came from. In fairness to Chip, he was making citations of historical events – Russia that sank a Hongkong cargo ship, Japan that planted a flag on another island presumably within Hongkong territory, and this time Philippines for sovereignty claims over rocks in the Spratlys.
Here we see a congressman cry wolf?
I simply fail to see the point unless interpretation is done selectively on what story has actually been written.
There are available sad data to show that indeed our OFWs are largely domestic helpers abroad but very very literate – English speaking at the very least.
KP,
If you want to associate yourself with “Cheap Taho’s” description that you are a member of the “nation of servants” be my guest. But do not impose your own self-indulgence over “Chinese” apt description of your person to others.
I for one would see other OFW’s who do not work as servants and therefore would resent the appendage.
One of our congressmen is considering to black list our maids from going to Hong Kong and do a boycott of their products. I think this is a knee-jerk reaction. Chip Tsao != Hong Kong. If someone insults a country, it doesn’t man that the whole country is guilty.
Anyway, don’t be too serious and pikon about the column. Filipinos are also guilty of their own racial slurs. Have you seen Pinoys’ reactions when they see a black man?
Minor typo: … it doesn’t mean that …
Why do you refer as ill-gotten wealth whatever the Chinese has accumulated here in the Philippines?
That is unfounded.
“You must be over-acting in suggesting to move out of this country all the Chinese who live here and who run business of their own.
Again, that is unfounded.
Now you want our maids to sit as directors of San Miguel, etc. – that must have been satirical, if it does not carry the same racist slur that you wish to protect.
Again, that is unfounded.”
Yes, 100% I agree with what Karlpopper has pointed out!
There is mob anarchism in the webs. Many are hurling invectives at the Chinese in general like chinks, yellowrace, Intsik Beho Tolo Laway just because of that one Chinese Chauvinist In Hong Kong called Chip Tsao spoiling the broth. Even Lucio Tan and Henry Sy were not spared from this tirade. Suffice to say that anti-Chinese sentiment is still deep-rooted in the Pinoy’s psychic which can be traced back to the Divide and Rule policy during the Spanish era. Racial hatred, when provoked, runs wild and irrational. Pinoy now are everywhere in the world. Their perspective of Chinese should have been global, but sad to point out that many of them still can’t distinguish Chinese of many ramifications. There are Chinoy, HongKonger, Taiwanese, Singaporeans, Malaysian Chinese, Mainlanders, American Chinese etc which are of different cultural up-bringing albeit their origin was Chinese. Please don’t attack ALL Chinese with One Single Stick. With that you are mounting the same racial slur you have chosen to lambaste and yet we can not earn respect as a people in the international community by doing what Chip Tsao is inflicting upon us.
Erichan,
If Cheap Taho can do a racial slur, why can’t JCC do a Chinese slur? At least my slur reeks with undeniable truth in it.
Erichan,
why don’t you show your background to see if you are speaking as a Pinoy or as a Chinese?
“Distinguished Chinese?”
Here read my post ahead of this thread:
Lucio Tan fronted for Mr. Marcos. Bongbong wanted to get back his dad’s millions from Mr. Tan when the Marcoses came back. Mr. Sy employs thousands of Pinoy sales ladies with a tenure of 6 months, allows the appointment to lapse after 6 months and rehire them after 1 or 2 months furlough so these sales ladies would not become permanent entitled to vacation leave and sick leave.
Chinese in Binondo it is said, controls the rice and vegetable cartels in Metro Manila and adjoining environs.
Now there are five chinese who were arrested in shabu factory in Laguna by the PDEA.
In my province of Camarines Sur, one Mr. Cosay controls the price of rice in the region.
I can say that Chinese in the Philippines have been exploiting the Pinoys and they should atleast show respect to the people who made them rich and not be condescending upon them.
If you believe in the Balzac dictum that “behind every great wealth is a great crime”, you can atleast appreciate the fact Chinese oligarchy in the country are not “immaculate” and sinless businessmen.
Erichan,
Your Chinese compatriots came to RP with paraphernalia to produce shabu. They put up mobile factories in several parts of Metro Manila. One such factory was raided by PDEA in Laguna. Your compatriots were being detained now.
Filipina maids went to Hongkong and worked 16 hours. They worked well and according to Cathy the Cat their salaries were well below the minimum wage. Sometimes they are abused by their employers as anywhere else not only in Hongkong. They came to your place so they can attend to your children while your Chinese compatriots peddle shabu and illegal drugs to ruin Filipino children.
Don’t ever think for a moment that a Pinoy blogger should take this sitting down because not all Chinese are bad anyway.
Kuomintang is KUOmintang not KOUmintang, note the spelling. Let’s discuss things with historical basis, not just purely from racial prejudice. It brings us nowhere if you bear hatred.
At last you were able to say “There are lots of good Chinese People in RP, that is conceded”, which shows you are still open to sincere discussion.
don’t nitpick. Stick to the issue.
So what is the function of editor in chief then?to give apologies or to edit articles that he thinks should be edited?Chip does perform his job as a writer but the editor in chief, i dont know.
It is my view that it is during an important moment like this, i.e., when the Filipino nation is rubbished publicly by foreigners, that Filipinos of Chinese origin, who have taken advantage and/or continue to take advantage of the generous largesse of the Philippines, its people, its resources, its lax laws, its corruption or its whatever, to choose and to pledge their loyalty towards the Filipino nation with utmost vigour.
The Filipino-Chinese community should challenge Chip Tsao unreservedly. (Those who hesitate must be kicked out of the country, and if they resist, must be drowned in Pasig river.)
And of course, Filipino-Filipinos should do it too with unbridled strength (surely there are many ways to do it short of physically obliterating Chip Tsao from the face of the earth).
To do nothing at all or to stay with arms akimbo, because of the belief that Chip Tsao’s public slight is true (as some Filipinos are saying now even as I write this), will only prove the general perception that as ever, the Filipino would much prefer to take the easy way out even at the risk of receiving the spitle of another — if so, then Filipinos deserve their lot.
We don’t have the right to attack Hong-Kongeses for discriminating Filipinos when we discriminate our very own brown-brothers.
I challenge you all bloggers and commentators in this site with following questions:
- Which ones do you likely rent among a line-up of prostitutes?
- Which ones in Beauty Contests you are likely to choose?
- Wanted ad: “… at least 25 years old with pleasing personality…”
- Wanted ad: “… submit 2×2 picture…” What? Hiring is based on looks?
- Can a brown-skin, punked-nose land a TV endorsement?
- Who gets a better restaurant treatment? Light-skin? Fair-skin? Chinita? or Igorot? or Filipino looking?
GET OVER IT, DUDE. ONCE WE GET OVER OUR OVERT DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES THAT’S THE TIME WE ATTACK HONG-KONGESES.
DUH!
That’s exactly the way of a racist, just single out one race to attack, as what Chip Tsao did. Oh, time is precious, better not to waste so much time arguing with racists. At least I got to know now what is it like in the webs, thank you.
The following is part of the column of Ana Marie Pamintuan written today (April 1, 2009) in Philippine Star, I suggest racists must read, I think it was very objectively written, without the flame of bias of a racist:
There is nothing to be ashamed of in doing honest work. The Chinese are well aware of this. In another era, they cleaned Filipinos’ ears (really) and took care of Filipino babies.
But there isn’t much to brag about either in seeing our teachers and, in the case of Chip Tsao’s Louisa, a graduate of international politics from the University of Manila, working as servants around the world.
The multibillion-dollar remittances of millions of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) – about a tenth of our total population — account for a hefty chunk of those positive economic figures trotted out regularly by the government.
That army of OFWs guarantees that Chip Tsao will have to contend with Filipino workers not just in his home but also in hospitals, hotels, cruise ships and restaurants in Hong Kong and most countries.
But there is nothing to be proud of in the fact that millions of Filipinos are leaving their own country to clean foreigners’ toilets, wash their windows and wipe their butts because of lack of better opportunities at home.
The thrust of any self-respecting government should be to create a better job market in the Philippines that will stop the exodus of workers and persuade the army of OFWs to return home.
Instead the Arroyo administration has encouraged the exodus to continue, thereby worsening the brain drain and the continually growing lack of teachers and health professionals nationwide.
Our industries are running out of skilled workers and there aren’t even enough qualified Filipinos to fill thousands of vacancies in the business process outsourcing sector.
Erichan,
It has nothing to do with the failure of the government to provide work for its citizens. It has something do with the right of a Filipino to be treated right anywhere else as long as he tries to do an honest job. What have you got to say about Chinese coming to RP and peddling drugs?
At last we have got an open-minded one to ask “who bows to let them in, and send them out scot free?”, nice question! Mr. jcc, that is why I mentioned some people can not even distinguish Chinoy from mainlander! Those who came to RP to peddle and produce drugs are Mainlanders not the local Chinese -Filipinos. Can you explain how they got into the Philippines? And how come they were easily been freed?
“chink-eyed” Koumintang? It seems that you have a very strange understanding of Kuomintang? Kuomintang is the name of a Chinese political party whose headquarter is now in Taiwan! How is it related to the topic of Chip Tsao?
Koumintang is my characterization of a group of chinese who left china to avoid Mao. They scattered themselves to Taiwan,Singapore, Hongkong and RP. But stick to the issue. The Chinese who peddle drugs in the country are either from Hongkong, Taiwan or even from mainland, but what the heck is the difference when your Cheap Taho condscended on Pinay maids who were trying to make a livelihood the honest way while your counterpart Chink-Eyed Koumintang were peddling drugs in our streets?
If you really want to stick to the issue as you demanded, then first please answer my queries how those drug peddlers got into the Philippines? And how come they were easily freed?
“Chink-Eyed Koumintang were peddling drugs in our streets?”, Jesus, are there not Pinoy policemen to watch over them? We are supposed to have laws and orders. isn’t it so?
Coincidentally may Pulis Na Pogi dito sa atin! Hahahaha!
malabo ka talaga. i said if Cheap Taho can make a racial slur, why can’t jcc do the same? tit for tat or what is good for the gander is good for the goose. one has started it i am just finishing it up.
issue: pinays work as maid to earn decent livelihood, insulted and condescended upon.
chinese came to rp: to peddle drugs, bribed corrupt politicians and policemen and even corrupt judges so they can continue their trade.
your conclusion is that chinese peddling drugs were no longer guilty because they were able to bribe their way around. wrong logic – those Koumintang remains guilty as the corrupt policemen, politicians and judges which could have some Chinese descent in their blood too.
some other chinese came: became successful businessmen, fronted for high government officials, officials steal from the people, hid the loot using a chinese front man. relatives came back asked the chinaman to return the loot to the relatives. still not clear to you Erichan or shall I say Eri Chan?
My goodness, please point our when did I conclude that “Chinese peddling drugs were no longer guilty because they were able to bribe their way around”. You are putting your conclusion in other people’s mouth. that is an unfair practice in the blog. Better call in the moderator to check!
What I mean is with a fair judicial system and with government that is non-corrupt, peddlers of drug or makers of shabu will have no place in this part of the world. You see how come Singapore is able to get rid of that drug problem? Because their officials can not be bribed!
Parang useless talking to a racist tlga!
If you insist that anything Chinese is bad, then cge nanga, do as you wish! Bye Bye!
The Chip Tsao frenzy stirred the proverbial hornets nest that is the Philippines to the extent that Philippines officially banned him from entering the country. Senators demanded investigation, the DFA mulled diplomatic protest, and the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong issued a formal statement criticizing Tsao. And rightfully so. We should shout to high heavens because Chip Chao is so wrong!
Chip Tsao is so wrong in his description of our country: we are not a nation of servants. At the very least, we are a nation of people too lazy to read. At worst, we are a nation of stupid people who already cannot understand what we are reading. To those who made conclusions and opinions without first reading the article of Chip Tsao (including our senators) here are the first two paragraphs of the article:
1. The Russians sank a Hong Kong freighter last month, killing the seven Chinese seamen on board. We can live with that—Lenin and Stalin were once the ideological mentors of all Chinese people. The Japanese planted a flag on Diàoyú Island. That’s no big problem—we Hong Kong Chinese love Japanese cartoons, Hello Kitty, and shopping in Shinjuku, let alone our round-the-clock obsession with karaoke.
3. But hold on—even the Filipinos? Manila has just claimed sovereignty over the scattered rocks in the South China Sea called the Spratly Islands, complete with a blatant threat from its congress to send gunboats to the South China Sea to defend the islands from China if necessary. This is beyond reproach. The reason: there are more than 130, 000 Filipina maids working as $3, 580-a-month cheap labor in Hong Kong. As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.
Right there and then, you can already see that this article is not an attack of the Filipinos. Ironically, it is actually in defense of us. Chip Tsao’s bottomline is putting China to task for picking a fight with lowly Philippines for doing something so minor, instead of directing its rage against Russia and Japan who had done far more serious crimes against China. He even called Spratlys as scattered rocks! Hay, how difficult is that to understand?
Mabuhay talaga ang Pilipino!