How Harinder Veriah became part of Hong Kong’s push for racial equality

These were the words Harinder Veriah reportedly said to her husband, Martin Jacques, as she lay in a Hong Kong hospital bed less than 24 hours before her death.

For Jacques, the remark would take on enormous significance. His personal tragedy led to a decade-long search for answers over his wife’s treatment, while her story became closely associated with a wider campaign for racial equality in Hong Kong.

The Malaysian lawyer, affectionately known as Hari, died at Ruttonjee Hospital in Wan Chai on Jan 2, 2000. She was just 33.

Jacques, a British author and columnist, came to believe that shortcomings in Hari’s medical care, together with racial prejudice, had contributed to her death.

Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority consistently denied both medical negligence and racial discrimination. A Hong Kong inquest later recorded Hari’s death as being from natural causes.

A life shaped by race

Born in Petaling Jaya on Dec 31, 1966, Hari came from a Punjabi family and faced considerable challenges growing up. Her mother died when she was six, while her father, Karam Singh Veriah, was a prominent lawyer and former MP who placed little importance on material wealth.

She met Jacques on Pulau Tioman in August 1993. He was in his 40s and she was 26 when they joined the same jungle trek and struck up a conversation.

“Within 10 or 15 minutes, I was madly in love with her. That had never happened to me before,” he told FMT Lifestyle on Oct 30.

Having grown up in a predominantly white environment, Jacques, now 80, said meeting Hari broadened his understanding of race.

“From the moment I met Hari, her colour became important to me. She was dark brown, which I personally thought was beautiful. But I became very conscious of how she was treated and how people perceived her.

“I had to confront my own ignorance.”

Jacques said he became increasingly aware of the discrimination Hari experienced after they moved to Hong Kong with their nine-week-old son in 1998. Hari had been seconded there by her London law firm, while he used the city as a base for his writing.

He claimed she encountered racism in everyday situations, from being ignored in shops and restaurants to hostility at work.

“Her Chinese colleagues knew she understood Cantonese. Once they realised how much she could understand, they would deliberately speak faster so that she could only pick up certain things,” he told FMT Lifestyle.

Despite his growing concern, Jacques said Hari rarely complained about the way she was treated.

In 2010, he described many of these experiences in a Guardian account of Hari’s death and his subsequent search for answers.

Jacques’s account

In the early hours of Jan 1, 2000, Jacques wrote, Hari suffered an epileptic seizure while the couple were out and was taken by ambulance to a hospital before being transferred to Ruttonjee.

Jacques said he became increasingly uneasy about her care, alleging that when he questioned the duty doctor about Hari’s condition, the responses he received were evasive.

He also recalled Hari telling him: “I am Indian and everyone else here is Chinese.”

“When I heard her say that, I was shocked. It was almost as though she was saying, ‘I’ve had it here’,” Jacques told FMT Lifestyle.

At about 8.50am the following day, Hari suffered another seizure. Her condition deteriorated and, despite attempts to resuscitate her, she died shortly afterwards.

According to Jacques, it was only after he obtained her medical records and consulted specialists that he began to question the treatment she had received. Among his concerns was whether Hari had been adequately monitored after being given diazepam following her seizure.

The medical findings, however, were disputed. At the Hong Kong inquest, an expert said Hari’s death was consistent with sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, while the coroner ultimately recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.

The coroner acknowledged that more could have been done for Hari, although it was unlikely to have saved her life. The Hospital Authority has maintained that she received appropriate care and that claims of racial discrimination were unsubstantiated.

Still, Jacques remained unconvinced. Together with their son, he later brought a medical negligence lawsuit against the Hospital Authority.

The legal battle went on until March 2010, when the authority agreed to an out-of-court settlement shortly before the case was due to go to trial. Reports described the sum as substantial.

The authority continued to deny negligence and discrimination, and because the lawsuit was settled before trial, Jacques’s claims were never finally determined by the court.

Beyond the courtroom

Hari’s case became closely associated with Hong Kong’s wider campaign for racial equality, with ethnic minority groups and human rights advocates citing her story in calls for stronger legal protection.

In 2001, activist group Hong Kong Against Race Discrimination said Hari’s case had strengthened its determination to campaign for legislation. A later South China Morning Post report described Hari and Jacques as closely associated with the push for an anti-racism law.

Hong Kong eventually enacted its Race Discrimination Ordinance in July 2008, which protects people against discrimination, harassment and vilification in areas including employment, education and the provision of goods and services.

While Hari’s case was not the sole reason for the legislation, contemporary reporting shows that it became an important part of the wider movement calling for stronger protection against racial discrimination.

More than two decades after her death, Jacques continues to honour Hari’s memory through the Harinder Veriah Trust, which he founded to support girls from disadvantaged backgrounds in Malaysia.

Now living in the UK with his son, Jacques said time had not eased the pain of losing Hari.

“I miss her deeply. I miss her every day.”

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