In the UK, immigrants are able to stand in politics due to its open political structure. It doesn’t have a constitution and it opens voting rights to the Commonwealth countries.
This lead to a more diverse government both on the local level and in parliament that reflects the multicultural makeup of its citizens.
But despite being the third biggest ethnic minority in the UK, the Chinese, and essentially the East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) community, have the lowest representation in candidates.
There are currently one British Chinese in the House of Lords, two MPs in the House of Commons, and about 20 councillors out of 20,000 in the local councils.
Lord Nat Wei sits in the House of Lords, whereas Conservative Alan Mak is the MP for Havant and Labour Sarah Owen is the MP for Luton North.
But this is an improvement, according to Chinese Liberal Democrats co-founder Merlene Toh Emerson.
“Chinese coming into politics has been a gradual process. In the last 10 years, we have been making more inroads and we have more and more candidates now,” said Emerson as she compared the political scene when she entered politics in 2006.
This is reflected in the past UK Parliament elections, most notably the 2015 elections, which saw a total of 11 candidates with Chinese heritage running.
There’s a slight decrease for the 2017 election with seven candidates, and for the 2019 elections, there were nine candidates.
Why aren’t there more ESEA in politics
In an opinion piece for Resonate, Cohan Chew wrote that the problem with the Chinese not being politically active lies within the community itself.
He theorised that it could lie in the initial language barrier from the first wave of immigrants.
Vice-chair of ESEA for Labour (previously Chinese for Labour) Sonny Leong echoed this as there are three main ethnic Chinese communities that came to the UK from different parts of the world.
“There is no common language,” said Leong as he broke down that the Hongkongers spoke in Cantonese; the Malaysian and Singaporean diaspora mainly spoke in English; and the mainland Chinese that spoke in Mandarin.
“This makes the Chinese the most disunited community in the United Kingdom,” he added when comparing the Blacks and the South Asians, which are commonly referred to as Asians in the UK.
Each wave of immigration has also seen the Chinese settling in different parts of the UK, making them even more scattered.
Nikkei reported that some of the first Chinese settlements in the UK were at port towns like Cardiff, Liverpool, and London. In order to avoid competition, these early normally set up takeaways and laundry shops far away from each other.
Upbringing and attitude towards politics
Adapting and earning a living naturally became a priority for the first generation of immigrants who eventually brought up their children in the same way.
“It’s the mentality that it’s always for someone else,” said Leong.
“Let’s bury our heads, study hard, don’t make too much noise, don’t break the law, and work hard. That’s what has been driven into us.”
“It’s because of our upbringing that we are less likely to put ourselves up in politics.”
Director of the Conservative Friends of the Chinese Leona Leung added that it is also the perception of politics and volunteering as it forms the basis of community and advocacy work.
“Even with young professionals, making a living comes first and then do you have time to volunteer,” said Leung, who comes from a background of community work.
“Volunteering is free isn’t it, you’re not getting paid for it. So the question is are you prepared to volunteer,” she added and believes that passion plays a part.
Setting up Chinese affiliated groups
The lack of political awareness and education was what lead those who are politically active to set up Chinese groups that are affiliated with political parties.
Emerson set up Chinese Liberal Democrats with former Hampstead councillor Linda Chung to further bring visibility to their Chinese candidates.
“It’s to support ourselves and as a platform for us to campaign under,” said Emerson, who put herself forward as a candidate in the London Assembly elections in 2008 and 2012.
Some of the Chinese Liberal Democrats efforts were to provide free training, coaching, mentoring, and funding for those interested to enter politics.
“Depending on which election you are standing in, the voting system is complex that the public doesn’t understand,” Emerson said as she explained how votes were calculated.
“So if we want to encourage people from minority groups to stand, they have to know how the electoral system works for which type of election, choose their seat carefully, and how to get on the party list.”
Former Lewisham councillor Mee Ling Ng recounted that she was approached by her peers Katy Tse Blair and Steven Ng to set up Chinese for Labour in 1999.
Their aim was to promote political involvement with the Labour Party amongst those of Chinese heritage and to support those who would like to become councillors and MPs.
“One of the things we focused on was voter registration,” said Ng as there were low participation rates even with those who are eligible to vote.
“We used to do bilingual leaflets and start handing them out in Chinatown with the slogan ‘No vote no voice’.”
Engaging with the community and lobbying on issues
All three party groups acknowledge how important it is to engage with the community in order to listen and fight for their concerns.
For the Conservative Friends of the Chinese, it was about leading and connecting with communities, especially linking the British and the Chinese, not just about politics.
Leung described that they constantly engaged with the community based on different age groups and ramped up them during the national lockdowns.
“We got different community leaders involved and split it up to different locations so I think it’s a lot more personal,” said Leung, listing down groups such as students, parents, and the elderly.
The online calls help to ease the community of loneliness during the lockdown and to address instances of racism.
“It was interesting as we are able to tell MPs what are our community’s concerns are, which is really meaningful,” said Leung.
The Chinese Liberal Democrats engage the community by finding out the issue concerning them and representing their views.
“Depending on what it is, we will get involved - like setting up stalls in Chinatown during elections, fundraising, outreaches and surveys to gather sentiments,” said Emerson.
On some issues such as the rise of Asian hate crime and on the political situation in Hong Kong, Emerson believes it is better to work on a cross-party basis.
“We work together to write to the media or hold workshops with the police to raise awareness within the community on reporting hate crime,” she said when mentioning how the Covid-19 Anti-Racism Group (CARG) was set up.
ESEA for Labour also held various activities to constantly engage with the community and stay relevant with its members.
When Leong took over as chair for the group when it was still known as Chinese for Labour back in 2005, one of the goals he had was to get the group officially recognised as an affiliated party of the Labour party.
“Once we were affiliated, it means we can play a part in the direction and contribute our discussions in any of the Labour Party policies,” he said.
“We can also bring up issues that impact us and our community within the Labour Party structure.”
Affiliation also enabled the group to reach out to the wider Chinese community in other parts of the UK instead of being a London-centric group, significantly increased membership, and make them part of the Labour constituency.
This further ensures that they can work closely with the Labour ministers and shadow parliament to lobby for issues that affect the community the most.
Challenges
For those who did put their names forward, their biggest challenge is not within the party of their choice but in being voted in.
“The hard part is how do you connect with the community,” said Leung, more so for areas that are not safe seats.
Emerson can attest to this during the times she stood in the London Assembly election and in the 2010 parliamentary elections.
“I managed to climb up the party internal list from eleventh to fifth and to third,” she described during her time standing as a candidate for Hammersmith in 2010.
“It’s not so hard for me as a Liberal Democrat to get approved and selected but because we’re the third or fourth party, our votes get squeezed so it’s harder to get elected in.”
Ng harboured political ambitions to be an MP while serving her community at Deptford, Lewisham for four terms. Her political CV was strong enough for her to be considered for Beckenham and Islington North.
“But on Selection Night,” Ng retold, referring to the internal party voting process on determining their chosen candidate out of a shortlist, “I lost by 10 votes!”
She wondered if there were more Chinese members in the party who voted for her, she might have won that selection.
“Not that I’ve gotten in that shortlist due to Chinese votes - but my wider point is: this is why it’s important for the Chinese to be involved because a lot of Chinese will say ‘It’s about time we have a Chinese MP.’
“Well, what are you going to do about it?” Ng challenged. “How do you ensure you get Chinese candidates if you’re not there to support and vote for a Chinese person?”
Increased political awakening and interest
All the years and efforts of organising events and engaging with the community do increase the participation of the Chinese and more of them joining their groups.
Leung mentioned that there were “thousands across different platforms” that they used as their various ways to keep in contact with the community.
“Many people are joining because they want to see a bigger change in the British Chinese society.”
“We see more women, which I think is great because it’s an opportunity to give women more voice to be involved in politics,” said Leung.
“As we see more people settling in the UK from different countries, we see that all the generations want to get involved,” she added, noting that youths and young professionals were more curious to know about politics.
Leong also felt encouraged that there were more Chinese youths taking up less traditional courses in universities like philosophy and policy.
“These are courses that would give you a grounding in being a public official - not that you have to have it but it will help,” he said.
With the pandemic and the rise in Asian hate crime, these groups saw the community starting to band together with the other East and Southeast Asians.
Chinese for Labour has also renamed itself ESEA for Labour to better reflect and be more inclusive of the ESEA community.
“It’s to move the conversation that we are now talking about a wider community rather than just the Chinese community,” said Leong, on why the name change is important and the public’s perception on associating an Asian face with Chinese.
The name change was also prompted after Sarah Owen first hosted a parliamentary debate to address the increased hate crime in the ESEA community.
For Leong, there’s still a long way to go despite fulfilling his initial goals for the group; being officially affiliated, increased membership, and getting more candidates in councils and an MP in parliament.
He said: “There’s still a lot more work to do. I see it as a work in progress, a continuous journey.”
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