Observations Causeway Bay/Victoria Park Hong Kong

While the Filipinos are gathered around Central Hong Kong, Indonesian domestic workers are known to gather around Causeway Bay and Victoria Park. I headed towards Victoria Park at 11:00 am and found upon alighting the tram that a large number of domestic workers are seen to be trafficking in and out of money remittance shops, Indo supermarkets, restaurants and other facilities similar to that seen in World Wide Plaza except that these shops are not located on outdoor street instead of within a complex. Sugar Street appears almost pedestrianized with few or no vehicles passing through even though most people remained on the sidewalks, indicating that the road is in fact not closed. Most of the signs and advertisements around the area are in Bahasa Indonesia (Malay) and even circulation signs in supermarkets are marked in Malay. I walked towards Victoria Park to find many groups picnicking on top of pedestrian bridges stairs, underneath bridges and so on. The area is not as clean as that seen in Central and far more crowded. All the leftover space, except for major circulation areas are occupied by groups and people picnicking, a scene far more compact than that observed in Central.

As I entered Victoria Park, the signs are beginning to read in Malay and far more non-smoking signs are seen within the area. The crowd of Indonesian female domestic workers are far younger than the Filipino domestic workers seen in Central, ranging from early teens of 15 or 16 to 25 but the Filipino domestic workers in Central range from 30 to 65 years old. The entrance to Victoria park are marked with mobile barriers and upon entering, I found a number of park administrators lining up in the area. In the center of the entrance space are two large groups of picnickers, densely picnicking underneath newly planted trees in the area. There are barriers that contain and mark the areas for picnicking and groups are seen to locate only within these barriers. The circulation areas are therefore uninhibited by pinickers and are allowed to circulate with alot of space despite the large crowd. On the side of the circulation areas are "fancy" photographers (who were mostly locals) who are camped in the area to take pictures for Indonesian domestic workers to send home to friends and families. The area has 2 large trash bins in the area in anticipation of the large litter that will accummulate at the end of the day. As I walked around and interviewed some domestic workers, I found that none of the domestic workers were playing cards or games as I have observed in Central. Most picnic goers are either talking on their cellphones, looking at photographs (or taking photographs), eating, drinking or chatting. Not many domestic workers were open for a chat (in my broken Bahasa Indonesia) but some were able to communicate in Cantonese. Most express that they enjoy meeting friends in the area but did not want to respond on more complicated questions regarding preference of public space or their idea of a functional public space for them. While domestic workers in Central were using umbrellas to protect themselves from the cold wind, the Indonesian workers here are using personal umbrellas to protect themselves against the burning sun. I wonder if the newly planted trees in the area were done so to provide shade to these picnickers on Sunday. While walking around, there are very very few locals and no tourist in the area walking through the entrance to the park.

Further into the park is a flea market organized by the YMCA Hong Kong. Although the flea market is local organized, the goods sold in the flea market are all catered for Indonesian domestic workers, with most clothing are Malay or Indonesian fashioned and the goods and accessories (such as scarfs) are also catering to Indonesian females. Around the flea market is are benches and a separate circulation area that was also roped off as designated picnicking area where the picnic groups are seen to camp only within the area. The benches in these areas appear to be serve as obstacles (taking up possible picnic space and those who sit on them are not on the same eye level as peers) rather than acting as facilities for the consumption of public space. This area has become the commercial area of the mini city of Victoria Park. I spoke to the YMCA representatives and accordingly, the rental for a space is 200HKD a day and anyone with a Hong Kong ID can rent the space. Most students with the visa can obtain a Hong Kong ID and accordingly, a domestic worker who has been in Hong Kong for more than 7 years area also eligible for an ID. The leaflet by the YMCA has the intention of promoting a park for the Hong Kong Youth, with activities and games on Sundays but I wondered if the large number of Indonesians have dettered the success of these organized actitivies. The YMCA members did not respond to this question.

Walking further into the park, the lush greenery was lined with pockets of picnicking groups or few domestic workers walking or sitting along the flowerbeds. Within the area, there is a garden area that appears similar to the entrance area. Here, there are no barriers that contain the picnickers but the overall circulation of the area is internalized and maintained, although unstructured. Here, the small palm trees provide far less shade as that seen in the entrance. Because of the secluded location of this area, there are many individuals who were hawking and peddling food and other goods. Hawking and Peddling without license is illegal in Hong Kong. I walked around and sat down to talk to three Indonesian domestic workers who were all named Siti. They were well versed in Malay, English and Cantonese but due to accent differences, it was most comfortable conversing in English. They were fluent in English because of their previous employment in Singapore. All of the 4 Sitis have previously worked in Singapore and despite not having days off in Singapore and the higher salaries in Hong Kong, they preferred to work in Singapore. I enquired why and they quoted the higher expenses and less savings because of their Sundays off and the stricter rules, cleanliness were preferred as compared to Hong Kong. (They also indirectly eluded to the harassment that they felt by males outside the park on their Sundays off). While sitting amidst their group, I noticed that far more Indonesian domestic workers were consuming purchased food instead of food brought from home and most of the picnicking material such as the plastic that they sit on, the food containers and others are disposable. This is a strong contrast with the Filipinos who brought everyting from chairs, board games to thermos on their picnic days. At around 1:30 pm, I saw some individuals who began performing their daily prayers in this open picnicking spot. Usually, prayers are done indoors after a ritual of ablution but here, it is done with friends in the open while facing Mecca. I asked Siti if this is usually practiced here and she said yes and despite the lack of facilities to cleanse, female domestic workers would find their ways around to do their prayers if they want to.

Deeper in the park, there is a large open space where more picnicking occurs. There is no shade in the area so umbrellas mushroomed all over the area. The picnicking is less dense but far less organized than that observed in Central with almost all the picnickers are sitting on disposable plastic sheets. I was offered to buy a plastic sheet as I entered this open space for 10HKD. Even though it was a cold day, the sun was warm and the area itself was without shade. Because of the piercing sun, some would even use their hoods and coats to shelter from the sun. One wonders if this same pattern of picnicking would be practiced in the midst of summer. As compared to the Filipino groups, the Indonesian domestic workers gather in larger groups of an average of 6 or 7 but ranges from 3 to 12. On the periphery of the area, there are also barriers previously seen in the entrance that functions to designate and segregate circulatory areas from picnicking areas. In some parts of the field, there are people playing music and practicing dances while others look on. This was not observed in Central. Besides the picnicking Indonesian domestic workers, there are ocassiona local families who are strolling with babies and infants but they are significantly outnumbered by the large number of Indonesian females. While walking around the park I found park administrators who are "guarding" the jogging path that circles throughout the park, making sure that the large groups of crossing pedestrian do not occupy or inhibit circulation along the jogging path primary used by locals for exercise purposes.

The park is a large area but besides picnicking, there are other very interesting activities that occur throughout more private areas and more secluded pockets in the park. In one section, I found a group of Indonesian girls practicing a traditional Indonesian dance while being instructed by an Indonesian male. They appeared to have arrived to the park via a van, equipped with a sound system to facilitate the practicing that goes on. The dance was beautiful and colorful, attracting locals to watch the performance. Nearby is a group of Christian Indonesian females who is rehearsing gospel in a choir. These activities next to each other was interesting. In a more secluded areas were a younger group of teenage Indonesian females who were practicing a hip hop modern dance to contemporary Indonesian music. Besides dancing and singing that happens in the area, there are also religious groups who gather in specific spots to read the Quran or to pray. In the area adjacent to the boat racing pond. A group was gathered on the floor, underneath a sitting hut to readn discuss the Quran, bringing along a large speaker and a microphone to facilitate the discussion of the large group. There is another group who is gathered together in prayer, attired in
prayer clothing throughout their discussion. This religious activity in the public space is interestin and not seen in Central. Hong Kong has far more churches as compared to mosque, resulting in the lack of religious institutions to cater to the growing number of Muslim female domestic workers. Muslim community also has gathering private spaces where they study the Quran (much like Bible studies), especially for younger Muslim female domestic workers. Perhaps the lack of such private communal religious spaces have driven this new use of public space by female domestic workers.

Despite the large park space, there is insufficient number of toilet facilities to cater for the large number of females that frequent the park every Sunday. As a result, toilet facilities in neighboring shopping complex. In one higher end shopping complex, the janitor quotes that one janitor services the facility on weekdays, two on Saturdays and three on Sundays. One janitor (with her high tech bluetooth technology) sheperds the patrons while the other two constantly cleans the facility to cater for the large number of Indonesian females. Unlike Word Wide Plaza, Lucky Plaza and Kota Raya, they do not restrict or charge the domestic workers but merely increased manpower to cater for the large volume.

Around Victoria Park (around the St.George road entrance and Sugar Street entrance), groups of policeman are seen to be stationed to maintain "order" in the area, while the immediate area after the entrance, there are park administrators that helps to make sure park rules are adhered. While interviewing a park administrator, he states that the large number of Indonesian workers has complicated the administration of the park. The litter that they produce requires around two to three trucks to ship away at the end of each Sunday. While there are only seven administrators throughout the week, the number needs to be tripled on Sundays in order to maintain the safety of the park and that number have increased recently due to "terrorism". Indonesian females do not always adhere to the park rules but administrators "dare not" ask them to behave, leving peddlers, hawkers and smokers alone despite that it is illegal. Accordingly, there are foreign males who also frequent the area outside the park and park administrators, and sometimes even police, avoid conflict with this group. Although Mr.C* is not pleased with the "troubles" caused by the large number of Indonesian females, he is sympathetic to the fact that they need a recreational facility and a "place to go". He said that if they are not allowed in parks, they would clog up the circulation in the streets around Hong Kong, which would be "more troublesome". While interviewing Mr. C* I noticed a larger number of police rotating the area and foreign males leaving the area at the sight of police men. This tension or need for security was not previously seen or felt in Central.