Apartheid

=== Asians during apartheid ===
{{Further|Indian South Africans|Chinese South Africans|Honorary whites}}
[[File:1963-1-10 Durban - Indian woman dia 2.jpg|thumb|[[Indian South African]]s in Durban, 1963]]
Defining its Asian population, a minority that did not appear to belong to any of the initial three designated non-white groups, was a constant dilemma for the apartheid government.

The classification of "[[honorary white]]" (a term which would be ambiguously used throughout apartheid) was granted to immigrants from [[Japan]], [[South Korea]] and [[Taiwan]]{{snds}}countries with which South Africa maintained diplomatic and economic relations<ref>{{cite news|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/06/19/in-south-africa-chinese-is-the-new-black|date=19 June 2008|title=In South Africa, Chinese is the New Black|publisher=China Realtime Report|access-date=4 August 2017|archive-date=24 July 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090724024004/http://blogs.wsj.com/chinajournal/2008/06/19/in-south-africa-chinese-is-the-new-black/|url-status=live}}</ref>{{snds}}and to their descendants.

[[Indian South Africans]] during apartheid were classified many ranges of categories from "Asian" to "black" {{clarify|date=June 2014}} to "Coloured" {{clarify|date=June 2014}} and even the mono-ethnic category of "Indian", but never as white, having been considered "nonwhite" throughout South Africa's history. The group faced severe discrimination during the apartheid regime and were subject to numerous racialist policies.

In 2005, a retrospect study was done by Josephine C. Naidoo and Devi Moodley Rajab, where they interviewed a series of Indian South Africans about their experience living through apartheid; their study highlighted education, the workplace, and general day to day living. One participant who was a doctor said that it was considered the norm for Non-White and White doctors to mingle while working at the hospital but when there was any down time or breaks, they were to go back to their segregated quarters. Not only was there severe segregation for doctors, non-white, more specifically Indians, were paid three to four times less than their white counterparts. Many described being treated as a "third class citizen" due to the humiliation of the standard of treatment for non-white employees across many professions. Many Indians described a sense of justified superiority from whites due to the apartheid laws that, in the minds of White South Africans, legitimised those feelings. Another finding of this study was the psychological damage done to Indians living in South Africa during apartheid. One of the biggest long-term effects on Indians was the distrust of white South Africans. There was a strong degree of alienation that left a strong psychological feeling of inferiority.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1177/097133360501700204|title = The Dynamics of Oppression| journal=Psychology and Developing Societies| volume=17| issue=2| pages=139–159|year = 2005|last1 = Naidoo|first1 = Josephine C.| last2=Rajab| first2=Devi Moodley|s2cid = 145782935}}</ref>

[[Chinese South Africans]]{{snds}}who were descendants of migrant workers who came to work in the [[Gold mining|gold mines]] around Johannesburg in the late 19th century{{snds}}were initially either classified as "Coloured" or "Other Asian" and were subject to numerous forms of discrimination and restriction.<ref name="Sze memoir">{{cite book|last1=Sze |first1=Szeming |title=World War II Memoirs, 1941–1945 |date=2014 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh |location=Pittsburgh |page=42 |edition=Digital |url=http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/text-idx?idno=31735066261615;view=toc;c=ulstext |access-date=7 November 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141108030328/http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/t/text/text-idx?idno=31735066261615%3Bview%3Dtoc%3Bc%3Dulstext |archive-date=8 November 2014 }}</ref> It was not until 1984 that [[Chinese South Africans|South African Chinese]], increased to about 10,000, were given the same official rights as the [[Japanese diaspora|Japanese]], to be treated as whites in terms of the Group Areas Act, although they still faced discrimination and did not receive all the benefits/rights of their newly obtained honorary white status such as voting.{{citation needed|date=July 2013}}<ref>{{cite web|title=From second-class citizen to 'Honorary White': changing state views of Chinese in South Africa|url=http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10539/1672/02Park_Chapter%202.pdf;jsessionid=D5157BAA085FC8DC8E63F3097E863396?sequence=2|last=Morsy|first=Soheir|website=Wiredspace|access-date=28 May 2020|archive-date=26 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200726090100/http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10539/1672/02Park_Chapter%202.pdf;jsessionid=D5157BAA085FC8DC8E63F3097E863396?sequence=2|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Overseas Indonesians|Indonesians]] arrived at the Cape of Good Hope as slaves until the abolishment of slavery during the 19th century. They were predominantly [[Muslims|Muslim]], were allowed religious freedom and formed their own ethnic group/community known as [[Cape Malays]]. They were classified as part of the Coloured racial group.<ref>[http://heritage.thetimes.co.za/memorials/wc/RaceClassificationBoard/article.aspx?id=591128 An appalling "science"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423220247/http://heritage.thetimes.co.za/memorials/wc/RaceClassificationBoard/article.aspx?id=591128 |date=23 April 2012 }}</ref> This was the same for South Africans of [[Malaysians|Malaysian]] descent who were also classified as part of the Coloured race and thus considered "not-white".<ref name="Intro" /> South Africans of [[Filipinos|Filipino]] descent were classified as "black" due to historical outlook on Filipinos by White South Africans, and many of them lived in Bantustans.<ref name="Intro" />

The [[Lebanese people in South Africa|Lebanese population]] were somewhat of an anomaly during the apartheid era. Lebanese immigration to South Africa was chiefly Christian, and the group was originally classified as non-white; however, a court case in 1913 ruled that because Lebanese and Syrians originated from the [[Canaan]] region (the birthplace of [[Christianity]] and [[Judaism]]), they could not be discriminated against by race laws which targeted non-believers, and thus, were classified as white. The Lebanese community maintained their white status after the [[Population Registration Act]] came into effect; however, further immigration from the Middle East was restricted.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Muglia |first1=Caroline |title=Albinos in the Laager – Being Lebanese in South Africa |url=https://lebanesestudies.news.chass.ncsu.edu/2016/06/21/albinos-in-the-laager-being-lebanese-in-south-africa/ |website=Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies News |publisher=North Carolina State University |access-date=26 April 2020 |date=21 June 2016 |archive-date=25 April 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200425074930/https://lebanesestudies.news.chass.ncsu.edu/2016/06/21/albinos-in-the-laager-being-lebanese-in-south-africa/ |url-status=live }}</ref>