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Since February 2021, the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) has launched on its Twitter and YouTube page a series of videos on the theme of “Harmony in Diversity”, introducing Force members with different cultural backgrounds regarding their overseas work experience or connections with various foreign cultures. The series has enabled people at home and abroad to learn about this little-known facet of the HKPF.
American-born Indian auxiliary officer
Born in the United States, Auxiliary Police Constable Kaur Mukhjot, whose parents are both Indians, brought her back to India in her early childhood. At the age of eight, Mukhjot moved to Hong Kong with her family and studied in local schools. After graduation, Mukhjot joined the Force as an auxiliary officer.
Mukhjot can speak English, Cantonese, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, enabling her to understand the needs of citizens of diverse nationalities that she encounters at work. For example, in her community, many of the case subjects are non-ethnic Chinese who are not good in either English or Cantonese, which makes communication very difficult for them. However, when people from her own community see her at the scene, they tend to trust her, as she shares their skin colour. Mukhjot said she is proud to be speaking the same language as her community and also contributing to the community as well as the HKPF by being able to identify with her fellows in the ethnic group.
Police officer who speaks fluent Putonghua
Raised in Mainland China, Police Constable Manbo Hip moved to Hong Kong with his family when he was 14 and joined the Junior Police Call (JPC), where his aspiration to serve society by joining the Force started to germinate.
In 2016, Manbo fulfilled his dream of becoming a police officer. During President Xi Jinping’s visit to Hong Kong in 2017, he was delegated to welcome the President and introduce JPC. Everyone was impressed by his fluent Putonghua.
Manbo is currently posted to Patrol Sub-unit 3 of North Point Division. He believes that every small deed he does can make a big difference in others’ lives, and this goal has been fuelling his dedication to do his best in his job.
Former Victoria Police officer returned to hometown to serve in HKPF
District Operations Officer of Yuen Long District Douglas Lin joined the HKPF as a Police Constable in 1992. Seven years later, he moved to Australia with his family. After earning a bachelor’s degree at a local university, he joined the Victoria Police; and in 2009, he returned to Hong Kong and joined the HKPF as an inspector.
Douglas said that Australia and Hong Kong are both multicultural societies, with residents from various ethnic groups and different cultural backgrounds. There are stark differences between their languages, habits and cultural awareness. However, Douglas harnessed the communication skills and techniques he had acquired while serving in the HKPF, as well as his understanding of the local culture, to act as a bridge between the Victoria Police and the locals of Chinese descent, to remove the boundaries between them and help create a harmonious community. After returning to Hong Kong, he also shared his experience and skills gained while working in Australia with his colleagues and applied them to his daily policing duties.
On the day his interview was released on HKPF’s social media, it quickly attracted attention from overseas communities. After seeing the video, his former colleagues in the Victoria Police immediately contacted him to reminisce about their good old days of working together. Douglas believes that, even with their different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, as long as there is mutual respect, they can coexist in harmony.
Please visit the following link to watch the “Harmony in Diversity” video series: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLslN1DbNu8TOYJwOsWLQdfLpWQjR4gsca.
