Hundreds of Muslims in Hong Kong took to the streets, Sunday (3/10), to demand that the Islamic holiday be the official national holiday of Hong Kong.
This joint action was led by KOTHIKO (The Hong Kong Coalition of Indonesia Migrant Workers Organization). Mass gathered to form a line lined up behind SOGO in the Causeway Bay area, with a tight guard of dozens of Hong Kong police on standby to participate in securing and controlling traffic for this action.
The action started at exactly 16.00 local time. Crowds walked from the Causeway Bay area to the Hong Kong government headquarters building (Central Government Offices West Wing) in the Central Hong Kong area.
Until now, Muslims in Hong Kong have never enjoyed their day freely. Many of them even have to keep working when Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha arrive.
The Hong Kong government, to this day, has not designated Iidul Fitri and Eid al-Adha as official national holidays such as Christmas, Easter, Ching Ming festival, or Buddha's birthday and other religious holidays.
According to yearbook data (year book) issued by the Hong Kong government in 2009 regarding the composition of the religious population in Hong Kong, the majority of the population adhering to Buddhism and Taoism, then Christians, which number around 670.000, Muslims as many as 220.000, Hindus 40.000, Sikhs 10.000, and Jews 3.000 people.
Of the 220.000 Muslims in Hong Kong, about 30.000 are local Chinese and 120.000 Indonesians who work as Migrant Workers. The rest, 70.000, are non-Chinese born in Hong Kong.
Of these, there are also Muslims who come from Pakistan, Malaysia, India, the Middle East and Africa.
Although the Hong Kong Constitution or Hong Kong Basic Law guarantees the freedom of every religious believer, including Muslims, to carry out their respective prayers, it is very unfortunate that to this day Muslims in Hong Kong still experience discrimination to be able to carry out the Eid and Eid al-Adha prayers because the government does not set it as a national holiday.
The majority of Indonesian Migrant Workers cannot celebrate holidays because they have to keep working. If lucky, using a permit from the Indonesian Consulate General, some migrant workers get permission to leave their employer's house for 1-2 hours to attend Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha prayers and then return to work as usual. (Report: Ani Ramadhani/ Hong Kong). *
