In Hong Kong after 10 yrs,victory for ‘a love that has not dimmed’

Jacques and Harinder — “Hari” to him — had returned to Hong Kong from London,where they had settled,in 1998,accompanied by Ravi,then only an infant. On New Year’s Eve,1999,at a party where their close friends,the Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm and his wife Marlene were also present,Harinder suffered an epileptic fit. She was admitted to the Tang Shiu King Hospital,from where she was referred to the Ruttonjee Hospital. There,she suffered another fit on January 2,2000,and died.

Jacques remained unconvinced that the death could not have been prevented. He alleged Harinder had been a victim of racism on the part of hospital staff against a dark-skinned patient. “She died only because of the colour of her skin,as she was an Indian and not White nor Chinese,” he said.

Jacques consulted friends in London,got opinions on Harinder’s medical reports,and returned to Hong Kong to collect evidence to make the case that poor medical care in the 20 minutes following her fit,improper medication,and lack of attention by hospital staff had killed her.

In an essentially closed system where suggestions of racism and discrimination against racial minorities have traditionally been silenced or ignored,the story of Harinder Veriah and Martin Jacques struck a chord — and settled at the heart of a quiet but growing campaign against racism.

Jacques was a writer,not a litigator (“unlike my wife,Hari,who was one,” he said) — but his dogged insistence on justice finally led to a situation when he was ready to begin litigation,10 years after Harinder’s death. But suddenly,on April 1,2010,two weeks before the planned start of the legal process on April 15,the hospital authority agreed to settle — virtually conceding that they had no case.

“I had documented Hari’s words in the end,when she had said,‘I am the bottom of the pile here’ and I said,‘what do you mean?’ and she said,‘I am the only Indian in the hospital’,” Jacques told The Indian Express over the phone from Singapore,where he is a visiting research fellow at the LSE’s Asia Research Centre. “Hari was not racist,she spoke Cantonese,she had closed friends who were Chinese,but she overheard and understood what the hospital staff were saying and told me what she felt and how she was being treated. Even in her last minutes I could sense what she meant.”

So why did Ruttonjee Hospital suddenly buckle?

Said Jaques,“The coroner’s report in 2001 mentioned death by natural causes. But the case became a focal point of the anti-racism campaign in Hong Kong. The anti-racism law was enacted in Hong Kong in July,2008. The hospital probably reckoned they would not win and gave in. As our son Ravi’s lawyer says,the hospital may continue to deny liability,but the money they have paid shows they accept full responsibility.”

Jacques was married to Harinder for seven years before she died,but as the citation in When China Rules the World reads,it is a love “that has not dimmed”. Defending putting young Ravi in front to fight for fair treatment to other racial minorities,Jacques said,“I have never protected Ravi from the truth. I told him the truth in a different way each year,as he grew older.”