Racism in Hong Kong
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Racism in Asia has roots in events that have happened from thousands of years ago to the present.


Bangladesh

In 2015, the ruling Awami League
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
, Elias Mollah, commented on his trip to the
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
: "Our army has gone there (Africa) to civilise those black people. I am sure they will accomplish the task." He constantly referred to the Congolese as "uncivilized black people" and added "People there are yet to become civilised. They take bath every 15 days. After applying soaps before bath, they do not even use water in a bid to retain the aroma."


Bhutan

In 1991–92,
Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...
is said to have deported between 10,000 and 100,000 ethnic Nepalis (
Lhotshampa The Lhotshampa or Lhotsampa ( ne, ल्होत्साम्पा; ) people are a heterogeneous Bhutanese people of Nepalese descent. "Lhotshampa", which means "southern borderlanders" in Dzongkha, began to be used by the Bhutanese state i ...
). The actual number of refugees who were initially deported is debated by both sides. In March 2008, this population began a multiyear resettlement to third countries including the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and Australia. At present, the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
is working towards resettling more than 60,000 of these refugees in the US as a condition of its third country settlement programme.


Brunei

Brunei Brunei ( , ), formally Brunei Darussalam ( ms, Negara Brunei Darussalam, Jawi: , ), is a country located on the north coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia. Apart from its South China Sea coast, it is completely surrounded by t ...
law provides affirmative action to
Bumiputera Bumiputera or Bumiputra, which is a Malay word, comes from the Sanskrit word ''Bhumiputra'' which may be transliterated as "son of earth" or "son of the soil" (Bhūmi; भूमि = earth; putra = son). It has different definitions in Brunei and M ...
.


Myanmar

Ne Win's rise to power in 1962 and his persecution of "resident aliens" (groups of immigrants whose members were not recognized as citizens of the
Union of Burma Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
) led to an exodus of some 300,000 Burmese Indians and Burmese Chinese who were victims of Ne Win's discriminatory policies, particularly after the wholesale nationalisation of private enterprise in 1964. Some Muslim refugees who entered
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
also suffer there because the Bangladeshi government provided no support to them as of 2007. In late 2016, the Myanmar military forces and extremist Buddhists started a major crackdown on the
Rohingya The Rohingya people () are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar (previously known as Burma). Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an ...
Muslims in the country's western region of
Rakhine State Rakhine State (; , , ; formerly known as Arakan State) is a state in Myanmar (Burma). Situated on the western coast, it is bordered by Chin State to the north, Magway Region, Bago Region and Ayeyarwady Region to the east, the Bay of Ben ...
. Since 2015, over 900,000 Rohingya refugees have fled to southeastern Bangladesh alone, and more have fled to other surrounding countries, and major Muslim nations. More than 100,000 Rohingyas in
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...
are confined in camps for
internally displaced person An internally displaced person (IDP) is someone who is forced to leave their home but who remains within their country's borders. They are often referred to as refugees, although they do not fall within the legal definitions of a refugee. ...
s. Shortly before a Rohingya rebel attack that killed 12 security forces, August 25, 2017, the Myanmar military had launched "clearance operations" against the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state''Mission report of OHCHR rapid response mission to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, 13–24 September 2017,''
released 11 October 2017, U.N. Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...
,
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
, retrieved October 12, 2017; quote="The “clearance operations” started before 25 August 2017, and as early as the beginning of August. The apparently well-organised, coordinated and systematic nature of the attacks carried out by the Myanmar security forces against the entire Rohingya population across northern Rakhine State has led to a mass exodus of more than 500,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh. The testimonies which were collected by the OHCHR indicate that the attacks against Rohingya villages constitute serious human rights violations. As recalled by many victims, the security forces and Rakhine Buddhist individuals incited hatred, violence and killings of the Rohingya population within northern Rakhine State through extremely derogatory abuse which was based on their
religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...
, language, culture and ethnic identity. There are indications that the violence was still ongoing while this report was being written."
"UN report details brutal Myanmar effort to drive out half a million Rohingya,"
October 11, 2017,
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...
at the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
, in
The Guardian (newspaper) ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
, retrieved October 12, 2017
that left over 3,000 dead, many more injured, tortured or raped, villages burned. Over 603,000 Rohingya from Myanmar, fled to Bangladesh alone, and more have fled to other countries.Lone, Wa and Andrew R.C. Marshall
"Exclusive – 'We will kill you all' – Rohingya villagers in Myanmar beg for safe passage,"
September 17, 2017,
Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was esta ...
, retrieved September 17, 2017
According to Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission, about 624,000 Rohingyas entered Bangladesh until November 7."‘Textbook example of ethnic cleansing,’ 370,000 Rohingyas flood Bangladesh as crisis worsens,"
September 12, 2017, ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...
'' retrieved September 12, 2017
"18,000 minorities flee deadly ethnic violence in Myanmar"
, Aug. 30, 2017, CBS News, retrieved September 12, 2017
"270,000 Rohingya Have Fled Myanmar, U.N. Says,"
September 8, 2017,
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
, retrieved September 12, 2017
"UNHCR reports surge in Rohingya refugees, now 270,000,"
September 8, 2017,
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...
on
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
, retrieved September 12, 2017


Cambodia

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...
has disproportionately targeted ethnic minority groups. These included ethnic
Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
,
Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...
, Thai, and foreigners who live in Cambodia. Part of this conflict stems from Chinese involvement in Cambodia before the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
. In the late 1960s, an estimated 425,000 ethnic Chinese lived in Cambodia, but by 1984, as a result of the Khmer Rouge's
genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...
and emigration, only about 61,400 Chinese remained in the country. The
Cham Cham or CHAM may refer to: Ethnicities and languages *Chams, people in Vietnam and Cambodia **Cham language, the language of the Cham people ***Cham script *** Cham (Unicode block), a block of Unicode characters of the Cham script *Cham Albania ...
, a Muslim minority group whose members are the descendants of migrants from the old state of Champa, were forced to adopt the Khmer people's language and customs. A Khmer Rouge order stated that henceforth "The Cham nation no longer exists on Kampuchean soil belonging to the Khmers" (U.N. Doc. A.34/569 at 9). Only about half of the Cham survived.


China

Scholars have suggested that the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
largely portrays racism as a Western phenomenon which has led to a lack of acknowledgement of racism in its own society. For example, the UN
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) is a United Nations convention. A third -generation human rights instrument, the Convention commits its members to the elimination of racial discri ...
reported in 2018 that Chinese law does not define "
racial discrimination Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their skin color, race or ethnic origin.Individuals can discriminate by refusing to do business with, socialize with, or share resources with people of a certain g ...
" and lacks an anti-racial discrimination law in line with the Paris Principles. Discrimination against African students has occurred since the arrival of Africans to Chinese universities in the 1960s. A known incident in 1988 featured Chinese students rioting against African students studying in Nanjing. In 2007, police anti-drug crackdowns in Beijing's Sanlitun district were reported to target people from Africa as suspected criminals, though police officials denied targeting any specific racial or ethnic group. According to '' Foreign Policy'', African students have reportedly been subjected to more frequent drug testing than students from other regions. Accordingly, some Chinese vloggers have attempted to change the negative stereotypes in their country regarding Africa, while black expats residing in China have reported a mixture of positive and negative experiences. Reports of racism against Africans in China grew during the
COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China The COVID-19 pandemic in mainland China is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). China was the first country to experience an outbreak o ...
.


Hong Kong

With a population of 7.3 million
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
has gained a reputation as an international city, while remaining predominantly Chinese. This multi-culturalism has raised issues of racial and gender discrimination, particularly among the 350,000
ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
minorities such as Africans, Nepalese, Indians, Indonesians, Pakistanis, Mexicans and Filipinos, who have long established minority communities since the founding days of the former colony or have come to Hong Kong recently to work as domestic workers. For example, Filipino females are sometimes addressed by the derogatory term "Bun Mui" and Filipino males "Bun Jai" (literally Filipino sister and Filipino son, respectively). In 2003, the number of complaints filed with the body handling discrimination issues, the Equal Opportunities Commission increased by 31 percent. Since the transfer of sovereignty in 1997, there has been greater tension and more conflicts have risen between residents of the PRC (People's Republic of China or the "Mainland") and Hong Kong over a variety of political and socio-economical issues concerning the governance and constitutional autonomy of the territory. The issues partly involve the intrusive policies of the central government and also partly the behaviours of Mainland residents when they travel to Hong Kong. Mainland residents suffered considerable set-backs in the 1960s and 1970s due to catastrophes such as the Great Chinese Famine that resulted from the poor governance of the PRC. However, since the 1990s, the Mainland has had considerable economic growth, and a large number of mainland tourists have visited Hong Kong in recent years. There also have been many reports that visiting Mainland parents let their child defecate or urinate openly in the street in busy shopping districts or in public transports. Tensions have grown between Hong Kong and mainland China since the handover. Similarly, with the introduction of China's
Individual Visit Scheme The Individual Visit Scheme begun on 28 July 2003 allowing travelers from Mainland China to visit Hong Kong and Macau on an individual basis; prior to the Scheme, Mainland residents could only visit on business visas or on group tours. The outb ...
in 2003, which effectively grants Mainland residents an unlimited entry travel visa to Hong Kong, and following the
2008 Chinese milk scandal The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a significant food safety incident in China. The scandal involved Sanlu Group's milk and infant formula along with other food materials and components being adulterated with the chemical melamine, which res ...
and other
food safety incidents in China Food safety incidents in China have received increased international media scrutiny following the reform and opening of the country, and its joining the World Trade Organization. Urban areas have become more aware of food safety as their incomes ri ...
an influx of Mainland residents travel regularly to Hong Kong to buy baby formula and other daily necessities. In the process, this influx caused shortages of supply for Hong Kong parents and escalated rents; it also greatly harmed the commercial diversity of Hong Kong business. Due to the great demand from mainland residents, smugglers organizations have grown rapidly. This deleterious effect on the economy has caused some Hong Kong residents to refer to Mainland residents as "locusts"; they are seen as invaders who swarm into the city and drain its resources. On the other hand, a race discrimination bill has been demanded by human rights groups for the last 10 years, and the government has been accused of putting the issue on the back burner. Last 3 December 2006 was the first time a drafted bill was proposed at the Legislative Council, and was expected to be passed before the end of 2008. However, the bill was criticized for being "too conservative". The exclusion of Mainland Chinese migrants has also been a source of controversy, with the government claiming that they are not considered to be of a different race. Another issue of the bill has been of language instruction in schools.


Tibet

Sinicization of
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa, Taman ...
is a phrase which is used by critics of Chinese rule in Tibet in reference to the programs and laws which force "cultural unity" in Tibetan areas of China, including the
Tibet Autonomous Region The Tibet Autonomous Region or Xizang Autonomous Region, often shortened to Tibet or Xizang, is a province-level autonomous region of the People's Republic of China in Southwest China. It was overlayed on the traditional Tibetan regions of ...
and surrounding Tibetan-designated
autonomous areas In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ow ...
. The efforts are undertaken by China in order to forcefully assimilate Tibetan culture into mainstream Chinese culture. Another term for
sinicization Sinicization, sinofication, sinification, or sinonization (from the prefix , 'Chinese, relating to China') is the process by which non-Chinese societies come under the influence of Chinese culture, particularly the language, societal norms, cul ...
is ''cultural cleansing'' or ''genocide'', used by the
14th Dalai Lama The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual name Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, known as Tenzin Gyatso (Tibetan: བསྟན་འཛིན་རྒྱ་མཚོ་, Wylie: ''bsTan-'dzin rgya-mtsho''); né Lhamo Thondup), known as ...
and by the
Central Tibetan Administration The Central Tibetan Administration (, , ), often referred to as the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, is a non-profit political organization based in Dharamshala, India. Its organization is modeled after an elective parliamentary government, comp ...
to describe the results of China's sinicization programs and laws in Tibet.


Uyghur genocide

The
Uyghur genocide The Chinese government has committed a series of ongoing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang that is often characterized as genocide. Since 2014, the Chinese government, under the ...
is the ongoing series of
human rights abuses Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...
perpetrated by the
Chinese government The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, m ...
against the Uyghur people and other ethnic and religious minorities in and around the
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
(XUAR) of the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. Since 2014, the
Chinese government The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, m ...
, under the direction of the
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
(CCP) during the
administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...
of CCP general secretary
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, ...
, has pursued policies leading to more than one million
Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
(the majority of them
Uyghurs The Uyghurs; ; ; ; zh, s=, t=, p=Wéiwú'ěr, IPA: ( ), alternatively spelled Uighurs, Uygurs or Uigurs, are a Turkic ethnic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the general region of Central and East Asia. The Uyghur ...
) being held in secretive
internment camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...
without any
legal process Legal process (sometimes simply process) is any formal notice or writ by a court obtaining jurisdiction over a person or property. Common forms of process include a summons, subpoena, mandate, and warrant. Process normally takes effect by s ...
in what has become the largest-scale detention of ethnic and religious minorities since
the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
. Critics of the policy have described it as the Sinicization of Xinjiang and have called it an ethnocide or cultural genocide, while some governments, activists, independent NGOs, human rights experts, academics, government officials, and the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile have called it a genocide. In particular, critics have highlighted the concentration of Uyghurs in state-sponsored internment camps, suppression of Uyghur Islam in China, religious practices, political indoctrination, severe ill-treatment, and testimonials of alleged human rights abuses including Compulsory sterilization, forced sterilization, Birth control, contraception, and Forced abortion, abortion. Chinese government statistics show that from 2015 to 2018, birth rates in the mostly Uyghur regions of Hotan and Kashgar fell by more than 60%. In the same period, the birth rate of the whole country decreased by 9.69%, from 12.07 to 10.9 per 1,000 people. Chinese authorities acknowledged that birth rates dropped by almost a third in 2018 in Xinjiang, but denied reports of forced sterilization and genocide. Birth rates have continued to plummet in Xinjiang, falling nearly 24% in 2019 alone when compared to just 4.2% nationwide.


Mongol discrimination

The CCP has been accused of
sinicization Sinicization, sinofication, sinification, or sinonization (from the prefix , 'Chinese, relating to China') is the process by which non-Chinese societies come under the influence of Chinese culture, particularly the language, societal norms, cul ...
by gradually replacing Mongolian languages with Mandarin Chinese. Critics call it cultural genocide for dismantling people's minority languages and eradicating their minority identities. The implementation of the Mandarin language policy began in Tongliao, because 1 million ethnic Mongols live there making it the most Mongolian-populated area. The 5 million Mongols are less than 20 percent of the population in Inner Mongolia.


India

Racism in India first started during the Colonial India, colonial era, when European colonialists, using prevailing theories of scientific racism, formulated racial differences between Europeans and Indians that included historical definitions of races in India, dividing various ethnic groups in India into different "classes". The first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, wrote:
We in India have known racialism in all its forms ever since the commencement of British Raj, British rule. The idea of a master race is inherent in imperialism. India as a nation and Indians as individuals were subjected to insult, humiliation and contemptuous treatment. The English were an imperial race, we were told, with the God-given right to govern us and keep us in subjection; if we protested we were reminded of the 'tiger qualities of an imperial race'.From Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru, reproduced from "History : Modern India" (p108) by S.N. Sen, New Age Publishers, .
In recent years, discrimination against people from North-East India and from South India has been reported. In 2007, the ''North East Support Centre & Helpline (NESC&H)'' was started as a separate wing of All India Christian Council. Its stated goal is to increase awareness regarding prejudice and attacks against people from North-East India. Many North-Eastern Indians face discrimination, are refused living accommodations when they travel to urban areas to study and are subjected to racial slurs in reference to the appearance of their eyes. A spokesman for the NESC&H has stated that abuse and harassment of North-Easterners is increasing. A World Values Survey reported India as the second-least tolerant country in the world, as 43.5% of Indians responded that they would prefer not to have neighbors of a different race. The most recent survey, however, in 2016, conducted by the World Values Survey, found that 25.6% of the people living in India would not want a person of a different race to be their neighbour.


Indonesia

A number of discriminatory laws against Chinese Indonesian#Post-independence and New Order Era, Chinese Indonesians were enacted by the government of Indonesia. In 1959, President Sukarno approved PP 10/1959, which forced Chinese Indonesians to close their businesses in rural areas and to relocate to urban areas. Moreover, political pressures in the 1970s and the 1980s restricted the role of Chinese Indonesians in politics, academics, and the military. As a result, they were constrained professionally to becoming entrepreneurs and professional managers in trade, manufacturing, and banking. In the 1960s, after the alleged communist coup attempt in 1965, there was a strong sentiment against Chinese Indonesians, who were accused of being communist collaborators. In 1998, Indonesia riots over higher food prices and rumors of hoarding by merchants and shopkeepers often degenerated into anti-Chinese attacks. There is also discrimination based on religion and belief across the country, especially between
Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
and Christians. Amnesty International has estimated more than 100,000 Papuan languages, Papuans, one sixth of the population, have died as a result of violence against Western New Guinea, West Papuans, and others had specified much higher death tolls. The 1990s saw Indonesia accelerate its Transmigration program under which hundreds of thousands of migrants from Java and Sumatra were resettled to Papua over a ten-year period. The Indonesian government saw that as the improvement of the economy and also the population density in Indonesia. Critics suspect that the program's purpose is to tip the balance of the province's population from the heavily-Melanesians, Melanesian Papuans toward western Indonesians to consolidate Indonesian control further.


Iran

As late as August 2019, the UN's anti-racism panel found the Islamic republic of Iran discriminating and practicing wide racism against Arabs, Kurds, Baloch people, Baluch, and other ethnic minorities. Discrimination and racism against Afghans in Iran, Afghan refugees in Iran are widespread. The UN panel said "Arabs, Kurds and other minorities in Iran face discrimination because of their ethnicity." The UN urged Iran to tackle racism on Arab, Azeri, Baloch people, Balochi, and Kurds, Kurdish communities and some communities of non-citizens.


Israel

Organizations such as Amnesty International, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and the United States Department of State have published reports documenting racial discrimination in Israel. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) published reports documenting racism in Israel, and the 2007 report suggested that racism in the country was increasing. One analysis of the report summarized it: "Over two-thirds Israeli teen believe Arabs to be less intelligent, uncultured and violent. Over a third of Israeli teens fear Arabs all together....The report becomes even grimmer, citing the ACRI's racism poll, taken in March 2007, in which 50% of Israelis taking part said they would not live in the same building as Arabs, will not befriend, or let their children befriend Arabs and would not let Arabs into their homes." The 2008 report from ACRI says the trend of increasing racism is continuing.


Japan

In 2005, a
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
report expressed concerns about racism in Japan and that government recognition of the depth of the problem was not total."Japan racism 'deep and profound".
BBC News (2005-07-11). Retrieved on 2007-01-05.
The author of the report, Doudou Diène (United Nations Special Rapporteur, Special Rapporteur of the UN Commission on Human Rights), concluded after a nine-day investigation that racial discrimination and xenophobia in Japan primarily affects three groups: Ethnic issues in Japan#Japanese minorities, national minorities, Dekasegi, Latin Americans of Japanese descent, mainly Japanese Brazilians, and foreigners from poor countries. Japan only accepted 16 refugees in 1999, while the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
took in 85,010 for resettlement, according to the UNHCR. New Zealand, which is 30 times smaller than Japan (in terms of population), accepted 1,140 refugees in 1999. Just 305 persons were recognized as refugees by Japan from 1981, when Japan ratified the U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, to 2002. Former Prime Minister Taro Aso called Japan a "one race" nation. A 2019 Ipsos poll has also suggested that Japanese respondents had a lower sympathy for refugees compared to the other surveyed nations. Ainu people are an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaidō, northern Honshū, the Kuril Islands, much of Sakhalin, and the southernmost third of the Kamchatka peninsula. As Japanese settlement expanded, the Ainu were pushed northward, until by the Meiji period they were confined by the government to a small area in Hokkaidō, in a manner similar to the placing of Native Americans on reservations.


Lack of anti-discriminatory laws

Japan lacks any law which prohibits racial, ethnic, or religious discrimination, or discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The country also has no national human rights institutions. Non-Japanese individuals in Japan often face human rights violations that Japanese citizens may not. In recent years, non-Japanese media has reported that Japanese firms frequently confiscate the passports of guest workers in Japan, particularly unskilled laborers. Critics call this practice, which is legal and encouraged in Japan, coercive and a form of human trafficking.


Forced assimilation of Ainu and Ryukyuans

In the early 20th century, driven by an ideology of Japanese nationalism under the guise of national unity, the Japanese government identified and forcefully assimilated marginalized populations, which included Ryukyuans, Ainu people, Ainu, and other underrepresented groups, imposing assimilation programs in language, culture and religion. Japan considers these ethnic groups as a mere "subgroup" of the Japanese people and therefore synonymous to the Yamato people, and do not recognize them as a minority group with a distinct culture.


Jordan

According to a 2013 study conducted by Scandinavian academics, Jordanians are the most racist nationality in the world, followed by Indians at second place.


Malaysia

Malaysia is a multi–ethnic country, with Malay (ethnic group), Malays making up the majority—close to 52% of the 28 million population. About 30% of the population are Chinese Malaysians (Malaysians of Chinese descent), and Indian Malaysians (Malaysians of Indian descent) comprise about 10% of the population. Government policies of positive discrimination often favour the Malay majority with ''Bumiputera (Malaysia), Bumiputera'' status, particularly in areas such as housing, finance and education. Such policies are protected by Constitution of Malaysia#Article 153 – Special Position of Bumiputeras and Legitimate Interests of Other Communities, article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia. The former long-term ruling party of UMNO also promoted Ketuanan Melayu: the idea that the Bumiputeras should get special privileges in Malaysia. It was written into The Federation of Malaya Agreement signed on 21 January 1948 at King House by the Malay rulers and by Sir Edward Gent, as the representative of the British government, that Malays would lead the three main races. Malays dominate in: politics at both national and state levels; the civil service; military and security forces. Chinese have traditionally dominated the economy and live in large numbers in urban areas of Malaysia. For Ramadan 2011, Chinese-language television station 8TV (Malaysian TV network), 8TV had some advertisements featuring a Chinese woman at a Ramadan bazaar. The condescending advertisements were pulled for being racist following an online uproar, and the station was expected to apologise. Instead, they claimed the Ramadan advertisements were an "honest mistake" and went on to claim that the viewers misunderstood the clips. The Ramadan advertisements – released as public service announcements (PSA) – appeared to be stereotyping Chinese people, depicting a socially inept Chinese woman embarrassing others at a Ramadan bazaar. Some parts of the community claimed that they were "Islamophobic", especially among the Chinese in Malaysia. Quoting Austrian philosopher Karl Popper, the station said in its Facebook note: "It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." The PSAs highlighted the clueless behaviour of a Chinese woman played by an actor in scenes to demonstrate what might embarrass Muslim Malay hawkers and bazaar patrons alike. In one instance, the Chinese woman dressed in a sleeveless singlet, showing her armpits censored by pixels, to passers-by while touching a bunch of bananas. Each PSA was soon followed by a message on public behaviour. One of them included "Do not be greedy and eat in public". In the 2010–2014 World Values Survey, 59.7% of Malaysian respondents indicated that they would not want immigrants or foreign workers as neighbours, which was among the highest out of the countries surveyed. In the 2020 survey by IndexMundi, Malaysia ranked second in the proportion of the population recognizing a racism issue in their country.


In the Job Environment

A study by the Centre for Governance and Political Studies (Cent-GPS) made an experimen
Study on 7 fictitious candidates
by sending a small sample size of 7 fictitious resumes representing 7 candidates: male and female Malay, Indian and Chinese candidates, 3,829 times in total to over 500 job vacancies across the Klang Valley. No fictitious Sabahan nor Sarawakians were involved in this study. Out of these 7 fictitious candidates, the study concluded that employers in the business sector are actively looking for Chinese candidates. The study had 3 hypothesis, first ethnic Malay applicants will be discriminated against in Malaysia's business sector compared to their non-Bumiputera peers. The study found out that the fictitious Chinese candidates dominated the callbacks by a huge margin. The two male and female Chinese candidates obtained more job callbacks than their Malay and Indian counterparts combined. No details regarding whether it was a Malay management company, an Indian management company or Chinese management company were included in the study, a confound that would likely lead to a skew in the results given the racial tensions and linguistic barriers in Malaysia. The second hypothesis was Mandarin Chinese, Mandarin is a key factor in helping or boosting a candidate's chance of securing a job interview. The study finds that when companies list “Mandarin required” in their advertisement, it is actually a filter to hire Chinese candidates. Their third hypothesis was the hijab plays a crucial factor in determining a candidate's successfully job application. The study found out that a Malay girl without a hijab gets more callbacks than a Malay girl who wears a hijab. The study concluded that even as candidates had the same qualifications, education and experience, the ethnicity of a candidate still plays a vital role in the success of a job application for a business graduate. Only business graduates were studied in this study, with other fields of study being suitable for an attempt for replication of this study.


''Ketuanan Melayu''

The Malaysian government ensures that all Bumiputeras are given preferential treatment when it comes to the number of students placed in government universities. The Education Ministry's matriculation programme allocates 90% for Bumiputeras and 10% for non-Bumiputera students. Bumiputeras are also given 7% discounts for new houses they purchase, and special Malay status reserved land in most housing settlements. Burial plots in most urban areas are for deceased Bumiputeras, while the rest have to be cremated at such locations. All key government positions are to be held by Malays, including most sporting associations. Other forms of preferential treatment include the requirement of a minimum of a 30% Malay Bumiputera equity to be held in Listed Companies, full funding for mosques and Islamic places of worship (Islam is an official religion in Malaysia), special high earning interest trust funds for Bumiputeras, special share allocation for new share applications for Bumiputeras, and making the Malay language a compulsory examination paper to pass with a high emphasis given to it. Even school textbooks have been criticised as racist, especially from Chinese and Indian-type schools who adopted learning methods from their respective countries. "Interlok" is a 1971 Malay language novel written by Malaysian national laureate Abdullah Hussain, with Chinese groups today condemning its depiction of Chinese characters as greedy, opium-smoking lechers keen to exploit Malays for profit. Some folks said that the Chinese were trying to "conquer Malaysia" as "they did with Singapore". The Indian community earlier complained over the novel's use of the word "pariah" and "keling". Chinese associations said the book was not only offensive to Indians but Chinese as well, as it depicted the character Kim Lock as a "miserly opium addict and callous adulterer" and his son, Cing Huat, as "cunning, greedy, unscrupulous and someone who would sell his daughters". "Interlok" was written based on the ideology of Ketuanan Melayu. The groups also condemned the "major thread" in the book, which depicts the Chinese "cheating and oppressing" Malays or as "nasty and immoral" communist guerrillas.


ICERD

Malaysia is also one of the only few countries (less than 10) in the world not to ratify the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) at the
United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
(UN), due to the possibility of "conflicts" with the Constitution of Malaysia and the "race and religious norms" that may jeopardise the special status of Malays in the country. One of the core provisions of ICERD, particularly in Article 3, specifically mentions its condemnation of apartheid policies and racial Racial segregation, segregation. When BN lost its majority after the country's 2018 Malaysian general election there were fears among the Malay population of eventual ratification by the Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition, which could possibly signal the end of Bumiputera privileges and special positions of the Malays in the country. Race relations eventually severely deteriorated to the point where a 2018 anti-ICERD rally, mass rally was held in the country's capital of Kuala Lumpur to pressure the government against ratification. PH would eventually lose power just two years later amid the 2020–22 Malaysian political crisis with pro-Bumiputera parties, including BN, regaining government control.


Nepal

In Nepal, there are concerns about racism towards Dalits, Indigenous peoples, indigenous, refugees, and other ethnic communities.


Singapore

Since independence, Singapore has declared itself to be a multi-cultural society. The Singapore National Pledge is a declaration of anti-racism and the acceptance of all races and religions. Racial Harmony Day is celebrated in Singapore to mark the progress made since the 1964 race riots in Singapore. There is a tendency towards collective cultural identity; that is a tendency to focus on group dynamics more at a societal than individual level. This in turn leads to an increased emphasis on being part of the 'in' group and not part of the 'other'. Many have on their identity document an ethnic classification of ''Other'', although there have been recent reforms in 2011 that allow for double-barrel ethnic identifications like "Indian Chinese" or "Chinese Indian" for individuals of mixed heritage. Schools and the Housing and Development Board housing estates enforce ethnic quotas based on the race proportions to prevent racial enclaves. The system ensures the majority Chinese live with a certain ratio of Malays and Indians and vice versa. As a result, children grow up with at least some racial mixing both at school and in their residential blocks. For many years, community leaders have been organising cross-visits to celebrate each other's cultural and religious festivals. Nonetheless, a number of young bloggers and commentators have been charged under the Sedition Act (Malaysia), Sedition Act for making disparaging remarks about race (classification of humans), race and religion. However, with racism pretty much impossible to be eradicated in its entirety, there have been cases of racism including the social stigma attached to intermarriage of different ethnic groups. Such racist sentiments have also not escaped those in power. In 1992, former People's Action Party
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
Choo Wee Khiang said: "One evening, I drove to Little India and it was pitch dark but not because there was no light, but because there were too many Indians around." Since 2010, anti-foreigner sentiments have been significant with house-owners and landlords refusing to rent properties to people from China and India. A 2019 YouGov poll has revealed similar results, with Singaporean respondents showing the highest percentage of bias against mainland Chinese and Indian travellers out of all the nations surveyed. In January 2019, a 30-year-old man was arrested following a vandalism incident in which hateful slurs against the Malay community were scrawled on poles just outside Aljunied MRT station, Geylang which is near a primary and secondary school. The racial slurs contained words like: "" (death to Malays) and other slurs displaying graphic sexual acts and one seemed to refer to Malaysian politician Anwar Ibrahim, although it is not independently verifiable if it actually did refer to Anwar. In July 2019, A 47-year-old man was sentenced to four weeks' jail and issued a S$1,000 fine for a number of offences including subjecting an lift passenger of Indian origin to racist remarks. In June 2020, a mother and son were being investigated for using racist terminology in breach of racial harmony, when referring to people of African origin during an Instagram video. Another form of racism in Singapore will be rental racism where people of certain races are objected rental of house and it has been rampant in the current years due to low house supply. The link beside will be an example on rental racism in Singapore.
Rental racism in Singapore
In 2019, a 'brownface' advert featuring Dennis Chew in multiple racial attire with make up applied to exaggerate various racial features. This advertisement triggered a rap video in response which not only brought attention to the casual racism that minorities face in day-to-day life, but also attracted the attention of the authorities to the video creators. Chew eventually apologised for his actions, with the broadcaster Mediacorp also dropping the advertisement. Prior to this advertisement, it raised the question on whether the acceptance of 'brownface' should be continued. However, foreigners have also engaged in expressing racist ideas against Singaporeans. There have also been incidents by foreigners who have been accused of being discriminatory to locals and has generated a lot of negative publicity over comments made about locals. In the case of British banker Anton Casey, he had posted comments on Facebook in 2014 which had abused, variously, a taxi driver and Singaporean commuters in general. For Filipino nurse Ello Ed Mundsel Bello, in 2015 he suggested that Singaporeans could not compete with Filipinos. Sonny Truyen, an Australian of Vietnamese origin, in his exasperation that Pokémon Go was not available in Singapore at the time, made condescending remarks about Singapore, calling it a "shit country with shit people".


South Korea


Korean ethnic nationalism

Koreans, both north and south, tend to equate nationality or citizenship with membership in a single, homogeneous politicized ethnic group or "Race (classification of human beings), race" (Korean ethnic nationalism, ''minjok'' in Korean). A common language and culture also are viewed as important elements in Korean identity. Some South Korean schools have been criticized for preferentially hiring white teachers who apply to teach English, due to perceptions that white teachers are more "Western" and therefore have better English skills. South Korea lacks an anti-discrimination law, which was recommended by the UN Human Rights Committee in 2015. The law has been reported stalled due to "lack of public consensus".


Treatment of non-Koreans

Due to the lack of an anti-discrimination law, it is common for people not of Korean ethnicity to be denied service at business establishments or in taxis without consequences. According to a survey conducted by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea among foreign residents in South Korea in 2019, 68.4% of respondents declared they had experienced racial discrimination, and many of them said they experienced it due of their Korean language skills (62.3%), because they were not Korean (59.7%), or due to their race (44.7%). In 2009, assistant professor Paul Jambor at Korea University claimed that Korean college students exhibit discrimination towards non-Korean professors by calling them by their first names and not showing the same amount of respect towards them as students traditionally show towards their Korean professors. He also added that such outright discrimination at South Korean universities is the reason why they are not highly ranked or seen as prestigious in Asia and beyond. With South Korean society's passion for education, South Koreans can hold a stereotypical view of Jews as the model of academic excellence as well as Jews being very intelligent. Conversely, a survey by the Anti-Defamation League found that 53% of South Koreans show anti-semitic tendencies. However, the half-Jewish journalist Dave Hazzan investigated on this result and found very little anti-semitism in South Korea. Moreover, Abe Foxman, head of the Anti-Defamation League, admitted that cultural norms affected the respondents' answers which has to be considered in future surveys.


Sri Lanka


Pakistan

Racist sentiments exist between citizens of Pakistan towards the citizens of
Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...
. A strong anti-Bengali people, Bengali Pakistani regime during the Bangladesh Liberation War were strongly motivated by anti-Bengali racism within the The Establishment, establishment, especially against the Bengali Hindu minority. This conflict goes back to when India was first partitioned into West Pakistan and East Pakistan when citizens of today's Pakistan dominated the original Pakistani government. Between 300,000 and 3 million people were killed during the 9-month-long conflict in 1971. The Government of Bangladesh demands a formal apology for those atrocities from the Pakistani head of state, as well as putting on trial former military and political leaders who had played a role in the army action in then East Pakistan. Pakistan has continued to ignore this demand. Discrimination in Pakistan now is mainly based on religion, social status and gender.


Philippines

Polls have shown that some Christian Filipinos hold negative views directed against the Muslim Moro people, Moro population due to perceptions of endorsing Islamic terrorism.Amina Rasul: Radicalisation of Muslims in the Philippines
/ref> The status of Chinese Filipino, Filipinos of Chinese descent varied throughout the colonial period. It is accepted generally, though, that repressive treatment toward Chinese was practised by both Filipinos and Spaniards together with Japanese immigrants and Americans during the colonial period. After independence in 1946, Chinese quickly assumed some of the top posts in finance and business. There were several setbacks, however, such as immigration policies deemed unfair toward migrants from China during President Ramon Magsaysay's term, as well as the limiting of hours for studying Chinese subjects in Chinese schools throughout the country, as promulgated by President Ferdinand Marcos. In some ways, the Philippines is a surprisingly homogeneous society considering its multiplicity of languages, ethnicities and cultures.


Taiwan

The Nationality Law of the Republic of China, Taiwanese nationality law has been criticized for its methods of determining which immigrants get citizenship, depending on their ethnic origin. Even so, immigrants already in Taiwan also report being treated as second-class citizens, and that the state should implement anti-discrimination laws.


Thailand


Turkey


Vietnam

The Sino-Vietnamese War resulted in the discrimination and consequent migration of Vietnam's Hoa people, ethnic Chinese. Many of these people fled as "boat people". In 1978–79, some 450,000 ethnic Chinese left Vietnam by boat as refugees (many officially encouraged and assisted) or were expelled across the land border with China.


See also

* Geography of antisemitism * :Racism by country


References

{{Asia topic, Racism in Racism in Asia, Racism by region, Asia