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Hok Bun Ku
Dr. Hok Bun KU got his PhD from the department of anthropology and sociology at SOAS, University of London in 1999. In 2001, he joined the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and now he is associate professor in the Department of Applied Social Sciences at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and has been program leader of MSW (China) for 14 years. He is also the deputy director of the Peking U-PolyU Social Work Research Center, associate editor of Action Research, and executive editor of China Journal of Social Work. He was Fullbright Scholar at Washington University in St. Louis in 2007 and Senior Research Fellow at Durham University in UK. He has been an honorable professor at the Minzu University of China, Yunnan University, Sun Yat-sen University in China, China Youth University for Political Sciences, and Shandong Youth University for Political Sciences. He has also been visiting scholar at the Central China Agriculture University and Taiwan National Central University, York University in Toronto.
Dr. Ku heavily engages in practice and action research in China. He endeavors to advocate the participatory research methodology. He has been involved in China’s rural development for about 15 years and has written extensively on topics related to rural development, cultural politics, participatory design, social exclusion and marginality, and social work education.
Dr. Ku heavily engages in practice and action research in China. He endeavors to advocate the participatory research methodology. He has been involved in China’s rural development for about 15 years and has written extensively on topics related to rural development, cultural politics, participatory design, social exclusion and marginality, and social work education.
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This research consists of a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews. The questionnaire survey was conducted between March and July 2005. We have completed 200 questionnaires with the help of ethnic minority members. The questionnaire covered four broad areas: employment situation, employment difficulties, employment assistance and lastly, their sense of belonging to Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the in-depth interviews aimed to further explore the complex dynamic of employment experiences that could not be described by quantitative data in the survey, as well as to develop recommendations for improving social policies in relation to their employment conditions. Twenty in-depth discussions with South Asian ethnic minority individuals were conducted from July 2005 to March 2006.
On employment situation, almost sixty percent are employed full-time and thirteen percent of the respondents are unemployed. Among the latter, around thirty percent have been unemployed for more than a year. Considering the occupational status, slightly more than one-third are engaged in elementary occupations, close to thirty percent as service workers and shop sales workers, and around thirteen percent as clerks. Those working as managers and administrators, professionals and associate professionals amount to around nineteen percent and around three percent work as plant and machine operators and assemblers. We discover that more than seventy percent have received assistance from family members, relatives and friends in getting their current or last job, followed by around twenty percent having obtained their current or last job through newspapers, magazines or internet advertisements.
Concerning employment difficulties, close to forty percent of the respondents have experienced some form of unemployment in the past two years and approximately sixty percent report they feel it is difficult to search for a job in Hong Kong. Three-quarters of the respondents cite not knowing Cantonese and/or Mandarin as the difficulty and slightly more than one-third feel they have been rejected for not being a Chinese person. Other difficulties reported include job advertisements being written in Chinese, their qualification not being recognized in Hong Kong, having low educational qualifications, having no-one who can help introduce jobs, the cultural and/or religious differences, lack of skills, fees of job referral agency being too high, not knowing English, age discrimination, and immigration policy. Our respondents also report having some difficulties at workplace, such as communication problems with supervisors, bosses and colleagues, not being able to receive salary on time, being bullied, having conflicts involving cultural and/or religious practices, being unreasonably fired for being an ethnic minority person, and experiencing some unequal treatment at work. The respondents were asked whether they have experienced differential treatment at work when comparing themselves with Chinese workers. On chances to be employed, half of the respondents cite they have lower prospects compared to Chinese people and on promotion opportunity, forty-two percent cite less chances than Chinese. Around one-forth feel they have more workload and higher chances of being laid off first than the Chinese workers.
On employment assistance, around one-third report having sought help from the Labour Department to search for a job. Among those who have not sought help, almost sixty percent cite not having the need to be one of the reasons, while slightly more than one quarter did not know the availability of such services in Hong Kong, and close to twenty percent consider the services to be not useful as the services are provided in Chinese. For those having sought help, they report various difficulties in using the services of the Labour Department, such as the staff not being able to find a job for them, the services being provided in Chinese, the staff not being able to understand their needs, they themselves having communication problems with the staff, and the staff not being helpful or having discriminatory attitude against them. Concerning the retraining services organized by institutes in Hong Kong, slightly more than two-third have not joined any courses. For those who have joined, close to seventy percent report having participated in courses run by the Construction Industry Training Authority (CITA). Our respondents have cited various difficulties when it comes to using retraining services in Hong Kong, such as not knowing the courses, courses being conducted in the Chinese language, not being able to find any suitable courses, time of the course not being suitable for them, course fees being too expensive, their educational qualification not meeting the entry requirements, and qualification of the courses not being useful or recognized. Generally speaking, around forty-four percent of our respondents are not satisfied with their employment situation in Hong Kong.
On the sense of belonging to Hong Kong, almost two-third of the respondents identify themselves both by their ethnic origin and as a Hong Kong person, and almost half of them express that they like Hong Kong very much. Among our respondents, two-thirds have experienced racial discrimination in Hong Kong. Therefore, while discussing their attitudes towards Hong Kong people in general, most came up with examples and personal life experiences in Hong Kong to demonstrate the presence of discrimination against them by the local people. According to the statistical data, nearly half of them express they do not find Hong Kong people to be kind and helpful, whereas a higher proportion of them report that Hong Kong people are not caring and do not treat people of different races and nationalities equally. Generally speaking, eighty-one percent of them agree that most of their friends are non-Chinese people. Although fifty-five percent report having close Chinese friends, in our in-depth discussions, most interviewees report not having close Chinese friends at all. Lastly, they tend to have strong ethnic pride as more than ninety-six percent agree they are proud of their own ethnic origin.
Based on the employment situation reflected in the questionnaire survey and the opinions expressed in the in-depth interviews, we recommend policy changes and improvements in the following areas: labour legislation, retraining services, accreditation of overseas qualification, legislation against racial discrimination and multicultural policy. To improve the employment conditions of South Asian ethnic minority groups in Hong Kong, we believe that improvements in these aspects are essential to assisting them in better integrating into Hong Kong society.
This research consists of a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews. The questionnaire survey was conducted between May and July 2004. We have completed 200 questionnaires with the help of ethnic minority students. The questionnaire covered five broad areas: education/school life, cultural aspects, aspirations and parental expectations, linguistic needs and interest in Chinese and mother-tongue, and lastly, their sense of belonging to Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the in-depth interviews aim to further explore the complex dynamic of educational experiences that could not be described by quantitative data in the survey, as well as to develop recommendations for improving social policies in relation to their educational situation. Twenty in-depth interviews with individual students were conducted from December 2004 to April 2005.
On education and school life, more than half of the students think they do not have the same educational opportunities as local Chinese students in Hong Kong due to limited school choices while the chances for further education beyond senior secondary education are restricted. With respect to their teachers in school, one-quarter of the students disagree that their teachers treat students of different ethnicity or race equally. More than one quarter also feel some of their teachers may punish ethnic minority students more severely than Chinese students, care about Chinese students more than non-Chinese students, and dislike teaching ethnic minority students. Through elaboration, it is discovered that some teachers have stereotypes of ethnic minority students as being useless, misbehaving and impolite. At other times, ethnic minority students feel some teachers tend to pay more attention to Chinese students than to ethnic minority students.
Concerning Chinese schoolmates, nearly half of the ethnic minority students reported they seldom have communication with their Chinese schoolmates. Moreover, one-fifth of them point out that Chinese schoolmates dislike them because of their race or ethnic origin. At discussions, students mentioned language problems and cultural differences as major barriers in communicating with their Chinese schoolmates. Majority of the students do not seem to have encounters with the school social workers, as ethnic minority students say they would not turn to a school social worker if they have problems. Regarding the general learning atmosphere in school, among 200 respondents, nearly one-third think drug abuse among students is a problem in their school and nearly half of the respondents consider bullying among student to be a problem in their schools. Some students have complained that the learning atmosphere in classroom is noisy and they cannot focus on their studies. For some students who are migrants, they have difficulties adjusting to the local school curriculum as the syllabuses of certain subjects in Hong Kong are different from those in their home country.
On cultural aspects, more than half of the students reported their schools respect their cultural and religious values and practices as they are allowed to wear scarves and salwar, grow beard and put on signs of religion. However, probing into the issue at discussions, it is discovered that certain practices may not be allowed by individual schools or in other instances the environment of the school does not foster the practicing of their religion, with some Muslim students mentioning that they were denied a room for the special purpose of prayers. In certain schools, students said growing beard is forbidden. Religious values and practices are more easily accepted by schools than those that were cultural in nature. Other than this, Muslim and vegetarian students find it hard to meet their special dietary needs in school, or outside school. In school canteens, they can hardly find food suitable for consumption. In other instances, lunch boxes ordered by schools for students mostly contain meat, thus they cannot order them.
On aspirations and parental expectations, we found majority of students disagree they have no reason to work hard in school, and slightly more than half believe they will complete college or university level. Moreover, three-quarter are optimistic about their future as they are confident they will have good career prospects upon completion of studies. However, despite such optimism in statistical data, at discussions we found that students have some worries about their future. They foresee some difficulties in achieving their ambitions, particularly in reference to achieving them in local society. For most of them, difficulties are mainly due to their incapability in Chinese language as they cannot speak the language while for those who can speak, they cannot read and write Chinese.
On linguistic needs and interest in Chinese and mother-tongue, more than three-quarter students have expressed interest in learning Chinese language in school. Reasons for wanting to learn Chinese include the usefulness of the language for further study and future employment in Hong Kong, as well as its helpfulness in communicating with Chinese people and in everyday life. Among those who do not want to learn Chinese, majority of them reported it is too difficult a language to learn. Other reasons include Chinese not being an international language, not being practical as they are not going to stay in Hong Kong for good, not having enough Chinese lessons in school, and not having anyone outside school to help them with Chinese schoolwork. With respect to their mother-tongue, nearly half of them want to learn their mother-tongues in school. One possible reason as to why some students dislike learning mother-tongue in school is that they are already fluent in their mother-tongues. Some consider having the speaking and listening skills in mother-tongue as more than enough. For those who have spent a number of years in their home countries, and for the Nepalese in particular, they are already fluent in both written and oral skills of Nepali, and thus expressed in our research that they find it unnecessary to learn it in school now.
On sense of belonging to Hong Kong, majority of the respondents identify themselves both by their ethnic origin and as a Hong Kong person, and almost half of them expressed that they like Hong Kong very much. A majority of our respondents have experienced racial discrimination in Hong Kong. Therefore, while discussing their attitudes towards Hong Kong people in general, the ethnic minority youngsters have ambivalent feelings about them. In statistical data, nearly half of them express they do not find Hong Kong people to be kind and helpful, whereas a higher proportion of them report that Hong Kong people are not caring and do not treat people of different races and nationalities equally. Generally speaking, almost ninety percent of them agree that most of their friends are non-Chinese people and only forty-two percent report having close Chinese friends. Lastly, they tend to have strong ethnic pride as more than ninety percent agree they are proud of their own ethnic origin. In addition, nearly eighty percent of them report having special qualities or abilities that local Chinese students do not have.
Based on the educational situation reflected in the questionnaire survey and the opinions expressed in the in-depth interviews, we recommend policy changes and improvements in the following areas: educational opportunities, role of teachers and social workers, curriculum, cultural aspects as well as Chinese language and mother-tongue. To improve the educational situation of ethnic minorities, we believe that improvements in these aspects are essential to helping ethnic minority students progress in their academic performance and attainment in Hong Kong society.
This research consists of a questionnaire survey and focus group interviews. The questionnaire survey was conducted between February and May of 2002. We have completed 200 questionnaires through snowball sampling. The questionnaire covered five broad areas: social activities and friendship, utilization of community resources, work and employment, children's education and sense of belonging to Hong Kong. The part on focus group interviews aims to further explore the complex dynamic of life experiences that could not be described by quantitative data in the survey, as well as to develop recommendations for improving social policy and social services. Two focus groups, with a total of ten male and female participants were conducted at the end of October 2002.
On social activities, we found that the major activities of the respondents are staying at home, meeting friends and going to worship. Participation in other social activities such as going to see arts and cultural programmes, engaging in sports activities, going to the library, and joining activities in a community centre, is limited. In terms of establishing friendships, most of the respondents interact only with their own people. They reflect that it is difficult to make Hong Kong friends. Cultural and language differences are some of the major barriers to making friends with Hong Kong people and to participating in social activities.
On housing, a majority of the respondents live in private rental housing. Some of them do not know how to apply for public rental housing and some believe that they are not eligible to apply, even though they are in need. Most of the respondents have had problems in looking for private housing, and identify expensive rent or housing prices as the main one. Some of them say that they have a problem communicating with agents in Cantonese and believe that they are rejected by landlords simply because they are Pakistanis. This shows that some Pakistanis have difficulties gaining access to housing resources, both in the public and private sector.
On social security resources, in fact, few respondents are receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA). Most of them clearly state that they do not want to depend on the government or do not need to do so.
Almost all of the respondents were not engaged in part-time studies or in an employees retraining course. They are discouraged for various reasons, such as high course fees, the fact that the courses are taught in Cantonese, or because they do not know of any educational or social institutes nearby.
On access to social services and community resources, very few respondents have approached social workers for help on everyday needs; instead they rely almost solely on their family, relatives and friends. Some respondents do not even know of any nearby social service centres and have never brought their children there. Their poor access to various community resources is not only due to language problems, but also because many government departments, educational institutes and social service centres do not target non-Chinese.
On work and employment, many respondents encounter great difficulties. Twenty-three point nine per cent of the respondents are unemployed. About half of the respondents have been unemployed at some point in the past two years. Most of the employed respondents are engaged in elementary occupations where the working hours are generally very long. The median number of working hours is 60 per week. However, their monthly income is comparatively low.
On looking for jobs, most respondents identify not knowing Cantonese and low educational qualifications as the major difficulties. It is alarming to learn that about one-third of the respondents claimed that they are rejected because they are Pakistanis. Some employers systematically eliminate them from selection and treat them unfairly at work. In the workplace, the respondents face various difficulties including problems communicating with supervisors and colleagues, bullying by supervisors and colleagues, conflicts due to cultural and/or religious practices, and diverse forms of racial discrimination.
On children’s education, the respondents encounter various difficulties including unreasonably long waiting times in finding school places, expensive school fees, conflicts due to cultural and/or religious practices, and being rejected because they are Pakistanis. The focus group participants also highlighted problems for Muslims involving food in school canteens and the dress codes of female Pakistani students.
Though they face numerous difficulties in Hong Kong, about half of the respondents like Hong Kong very much and treat the place as their home. However, this does not mean that they enjoy being with Hong Kong people. Some focus group participants also held ambivalent attitudes toward Hong Kong and Hong Kong people.
Based on the problems reflected in the questionnaire survey and the opinions expressed in the focus group interviews, we recommend policy changes in the following areas: employment, housing, and educational services, as well as a review of the policy on granting Hong Kong SAR passports to non-Chinese residents. To improve the general situation, we recommend anti-racial discrimination legislation to protect the right of ethnic minorities, and to promote a policy of multiculturalism in which cultural differences and ethnic diversity are respected. The aim is to build Hong Kong into a just and caring society.