Albert Lam
Chair Person, Ethnic Minority Committee, DAB Hong Kong
Democratic Alliance for Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) is one of the largest political parties in Hong Kong. This interview with Mr. Albert Lam, the chairperson of Ethnic Minority Committee of DAB, was taken by Purna Basnet, a Hong Kong based Nepalese journalist, few weeks ago about DAB's policy towards ethnic minorities in Hong Kong.
- How do you define ethnic minorities in Hong Kong?
Hong Kong is a metropolitan city. 95% of the population living in Hong Kong is Chinese and the rest are from different countries. People coming from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Philipines are considered ethnic minorities in Hong Kong. Most Nepalese can become permanent residents of Hong Kong. Some of them were born in Hong Kong while others have acquired Hong Kong residency in accordance with the law introduced by the British administration in the past. Although ethnic minority members cannot get elected, the issue of their integration into the mainstream society is very important for the stability of Hong Kong.
- What is the policy of your party in regards to the integration of ethnic minorities?
Our party has formed an Ethnic Minority Committee. We try to reach out to the community through the committee. But there is a language problem in the process of integration. According to the Basic Law, Chinese and English are official languages of Hong Kong. Nepalese students under 18 years of age and who are studying in English and Chinese mediums in Hong Kong, can get jobs or go to universities easily after the completion of their study. Better jobs cannot be found in Hong Kong without good education.
- How many ethnic minority members are there in DAB?
There are around five hundred members from ethnic minorities in our party. Among them, Nepalese comprise almost the half and the rest are from Pakistanis, Indians and Bangladeshis.
- Is there any representation in the party committee from ethnic minority communities?
Our central committee gets elected. There is no system of appointment in the central committee. However, there is an ethnic minority sub-committee under the central committee. In five of the 18 district councils such as in Yau Tsim Mong, Tuen Mun, Central, Wan Chai and Yuen Long, there are ethnic minority sub-committees. Our party has been running an Ethnic Minority Service Centre in Jordan and which looks after all the ethnic minority communities all over Hong Kong.
- What does the Service Centre do?
It looks after the problems of ethnic minority communities in Hong Kong and provides help to them. It helps the members in the Immigration, interpretation, job search and even applying for public housings. It also organizes various social activities to promote racial harmony. We have employed two Nepalese to facilitate in all that.
- What has DAB been doing to prevent discrimination between Chinese and non-Chinese people in Hong Kong?
The condition of ethnic minority communities in Hong Kong is better in comparison to some cities in the world. There is no discrimination in the policy level in Hong Kong but some sort of discrimination exists in social, cultural activities and in the workplace. We have been trying our best to minimize that. The anti-racial discrimination law implemented recently is an important step ahead and our party played the major role in the Legislative Council to get it ratified. As a whole, Hong Kong’s educational and cultural environment is fair. When you go to immigration, schools or to workplace, you are treated equally. However, some form of discrimination might exist in the community. Such discrimination may exist within Nepalese or Chinese community as well.
- Most DAB members from Nepalese community have affiliation with some political parties in Nepal. Do you think this will enhance the inter-party relationship?
It may help to have some contacts, exchanges and friendship. However, our party does not have any policy to bring the relationship to a party level. Party-to-party relationship is a political issue and we are only working for social relationship. But we are very happy to get involved with the Nepalese community. Nepalese community has been connected with Hong Kong even before the handover of Hong Kong in 1997. Some Nepalese who worked for the British military have become residents of Hong Kong. Most of them speak fluent English and Chinese, and have contributed to our society. Mainly, Nepalese in Hong Kong are in security services. They can provide good security and are trusted in Hong Kong.
