A reporting database for anti-Asian racism in Australia during the COVID-19 outbreak has received more than 170 responses since it launched a fortnight ago, with the Human Rights Commission also seeing a spike in racial discrimination complaints. Here, Lyn Ooi, a Malaysian Pharmacist in Queensland, speaks about the Covid-19 racism and vilification she has experienced.
“I was approached by someone in public a couple of weeks ago asking me why I wasn’t wearing a face mask, even though I wasn’t sick and that person wasn’t wearing a mask either.” The advice from Australian health officials throughout the pandemic has been that wearing a face mask in public is not necessary. The 27-year-old pharmacist, who is originally from Malaysia, says the funny looks escalated when she was the subject of verbal abuse while visiting a local restaurant last month.
“It was about 7pm and as I walked towards the local restaurant I heard a man yelling at me: ‘You f*****g b***h, you do not belong here. What are you f*****g doing here? Go the f*** back to where you belong’.”
“I quickly ran into the restaurant. It was scary because this is right around my neighbourhood and it was late, he was obviously under the influence of alcohol and making threatening gestures.”
‘Go back to China’
A survey for people to report anti-Asian abuse in Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic was launched a fortnight ago by the Asian Australian Alliance with the support of Osmond Chiu, a research fellow at the Per Capita think tank. So far, it has received more than 170 responses.
Activist and writer Erin Chew, the founder of the organisation, says the reporting database was created to provide those who have been the target of discriminatory behaviour to safely report incidents.
According to the data collated, 80 per cent of respondents said that they felt the incident of racism they reported was a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.