South Asians in Hong Kong
Many Indians had settled in Hong Kong, taking it as their only home and naturalising as Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies (CUKCs).
[5][6] With their citizenship in limbo, by the 1990s many Indians in Hong Kong reportedly would not even marry among themselves, preferring to look overseas for potential spouses with foreign passports.
[9] More than a decade after the handover, they have not naturalised as Chinese citizens; instead, they continue to hold only BN(O) passports in hopes of being able to attain the full British citizenship that was promised to them.
It took until December 2002 to see the first case of successful naturalisation application by an ethnic minority resident with no Chinese relatives, an Indian girl,[12] followed by a Pakistani man.
[13] Other high-profile South Asians such as aspiring politician Abdull Ghafar Khan and the wife of Gill Mohindepaul Singh have continued to experience rejections of their naturalisation applications as well, leading to an August 2012 letter of concern from then-Equal Opportunities Commissioner Eden Lam to the Immigration Department.
A large number of Sikh policemen left Hong Kong and about 150 Punjabi Muslim and Pathan worked in the police force in 1952.
More Indians stepped into the fields like international companies, banking, airlines, travel agents, medical, media and insurance sector.
After 2019 Hong Kong banks closed many business accounts of Gujarati diamond merchants due to fraud and money laundering.
It has been difficult for new diamonds merchants to open business bank account due to money laundering ex: nirav modi case: Nirav Modi group's exposure was not limited to only PNB's Brady House branch in Mumbai, as the firms had availed loan facility from its Hong Kong and Dubai branches too, according to an internal report of the bank submitted to investigative agencies.
Also, there is a group of Sikhs who set up the Sahib Sri Guru Gobind Singh Ji Educational Trust for the local Indians.
The earliest policemen in Hong Kong were Indians (Sikhs) and the present police force still have some few South Asians, as well as Europeans.
Many of Hong Kong's century old institutions have been founded with considerable South Asian participation, as the following examples suggest.
South Asians also founded the Ruttonjee Hospital, Emmanuel Belilos (a Baghdadi Jew) was one of the founders of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, while Sir Lawrence Kadoorie owned the China Light and Power Company.
Hari Harilela (a Sindhi) owned the Holiday Inn Golden Mile, while the Chellaram family is in the shipping industry.
[30] In the early years of British Hong Kong, the Indian gold mohur and the rupee were legal tender.
Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) was created in 1864 with 2 Parsees and 1 Indian Jew among the 13 founding committee members.
[36] Large number of Indians served in the military, police and prison services of British Hong Kong till India gained independence from Britain on 15 August 1947.
[41] Soldiers of the East-India Company, British Raj and Princely States in the Indian subcontinent were crucial in securing and defending Hong Kong as a crown colony for Britain.
[48][49] Contributions by the Indian military services in Hong Kong suffer from the physical decay of battle-sites,[50][51][52][53] destruction of documentary archives and sources of information,[54] questionable historiography, conveniently lopsided narratives,[55] unchallenged confabulation of urban myths[56] and incomplete research within academic circles in Hong Kong,[57][58] Britain[59] and India.
[62] One exception to this is an article by Chandar S. Sundaram, which details the December 1940 mutiny of Sikh gunners of the Hong Kong and Singapore Royal Artillery (HKSRA).
Although the tense situation was defused, anti-British disaffection was found to be present amongst Sikh policemen in Hong Kong.
Making their way to Japanese-occupied Canton, they asked for transport to Bangkok, where they could join their colleagues in the Indian Independent League, an organization, mainly of expatriate Sikhs, who were dedicated to the expulsion of the British from India, by violent means if need be.
[63] The use of generic words such as "Allied", "British", "Commonwealth" fails to highlight that a significant number of soldiers who defended Hong Kong were from India.
Transcripts of proceedings from war tribunals held in Hong Kong from 1946 to 1948 by British Military Courts remain mostly confined to archives and specialised museums.
[73] Public sentiment in the Indian subcontinent, solely preoccupied with gaining independence from Britain, made it impossible for the Viceroy of India to obtain political consensus for entry into World War II by British India thereafter; the Indians were reluctant to be drawn into war in Europe and elsewhere for the defence of Britain's colonial territories.
[76] Sikhs serving with the British Indian Army had customarily been permitted to retain their turbans in accordance to their religious traditions.
[77][78][79][80][81] British India participated in the war effort both at the planning stages (Eastern Group Supply Council) and in combat operations throughout Asia.
[84][85][86][87] Imperial Japanese Army committed atrocities against Indian civilians and soldiers during the Battle of Hong Kong.
[93][94] At the end of February 1942, the Japanese government stated that it held 3829 Indian prisoners of war in Hong Kong out of a total of 10947.
