Muslim women gather for a prayer meeting at Victoria Park, the weekly meeting place for domestic helpers of Muslim faith. Edmond Tang

The majority of Muslim women in Hong Kong are migrant domestic helpers. They are mostly from Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia which, according to a census conducted in 2006, is home to over 100,000 now living and working in Hong Kong.

These women are often breadwinners in their families who come to Hong Kong alone to earn money that they will eventually send home.

They bring with them a different culture, a different way of life while making Hong Kong a key part of their lives.

Clashes between work and beliefs

Speaking on her mobile phone in her employer's kitchen in broken English, an Indonesian domestic helper, who requested to remain anonymous, expresses distress over making pork dishes for her employer.

While pork is a staple in the Chinese diet, it is a forbidden food among the Muslim community. Although she doesn't eat the meat, the idea of touching it disturbs her.

Thameenah Chung (Mrs Wang), a Chinese Muslim by marriage, clarifies: "We, Muslims, are not allowed to eat pork. If we really have to touch it, we just clean our hands properly afterwards."

Susan Selwyn-Khan, an English woman who also converted to the Muslim after getting married, believes firmly that the pork issue is a moot point: "They should be prepared to cook whatever their employers want before they come to Hong Kong. If they do not want the meat, non-Halal food, or serve alcohol, then they should work in another country," she said.

Nevertheless, with the permission of her mother in Indonesia, the anonymous domestic helper is now seeking a Muslim employer who will not require her to touch pork.

Knowing their own rights

Inside an air-conditioned multi-faith establishment in Kowloon, Eni Lestari is the chairperson for the Association of Indonesian Migrant Domestic Workers in Hong Kong (ATKI-HK), a group that offers advocacy and welfare services for women in their community and a partner of another local group, Women's Empowerment in Muslim Contexts (WEMC).

She arrived in Hong Kong in 1999. She worked as a domestic helper and soon left her employer after they asked her not to pray five times a day.

After lodging a complaint with the Labour Department, which took five months to process her case, she eventually got back on her feet by spending time in a shelter for domestic helpers and obtaining paralegal training.

Lestari emphasizes that the most difficult problems for their community are inadequate access to legal services and lack of understanding of their basic rights.

She echoes the sentiments of a number of women interviewed, underscoring a feeling of difference particularly when it comes to wearing a hijab. "Some Hongkongers look at us as if we are weird, that's why from time to time we feel very uncomfortable ... But for us, it is about our identity."

Lestari is glad that while some employers forbid their domestic helpers from wearing a hijab, they would not go as far as hurting them physically.

Gatherings in Victoria Park

Eni Lestari at her working place. Courtesy of Eni Lestari

"Victoria Park is the center of gravity for all of us. We knew it before we came here. So whenever we have holidays, we go to Victoria Park. We often spend the whole day there until very late in the evening," says Lestari.

"We make friends in the park. Those who come from the same village or the same town will form their own groups and have their own activities," she adds.

But why Victoria Park?

"It is because the Consulate of Indonesia is around there," explaines Lestari. "And a lot of business centers are located nearby, so it is becoming the center of all things including our meeting point."

The park is also where the WEMC offers free English lessons to Indonesian domestic helpers in need of enhancing their employability.

When asked about the positive aspects of being a Muslim woman in Hong Kong, she says: "Many of us are coming from rural areas in Indonesia, villages where there is no access to information technology. Our knowledge about the world has expanded since we've been here."

(HK Edition 05/28/2008 page4)