Letters | Make Hong Kong inclusive with better civil service exam access for non-Chinese

Readers discuss expanding access to civil service exams to non-Chinese residents, graduation ceremonies, real-name rules for concert ticket sales, parenting classes, and men raising children.

Reading Time:4 minutes

People attend the Wan Chai Job Expo - Building a Multicultural Workplace on September 14, 2021. Photo: Nora Tam

Published: 11:30am, 11 Jun 2022

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Chief Executive-elect John Lee Ka-chiu has said he intends to make Hong Kong an inclusive society. This should mean every member of our community will have the opportunity to serve Hong Kong in whatever capacity they might be capable of while partaking in all the benefits on offer.

For many years now, one of the main difficulties our non-ethnic Chinese brothers and sisters have had is the requirement to pass an examination in Chinese before joining the civil service. While there are some success stories, most cannot master reading and writing Chinese characters, even though they might be able to speak Cantonese fluently. This prevents them from joining the government and even the private sector, save for menial or low-level jobs such as food delivery and road works.

To help ethnic minority residents realise their full potential, the government needs to work out a new admission process. As both Chinese and English are official languages, it should be possible to accept a lower level of competence in Chinese for civil servants, with promotion tied to proficiency in language.

This does not mean that Chinese is of lesser importance – all civil servants must be proficient at speaking and understanding the language. It only means the desire to learn Chinese will receive more impetus and Hong Kong can once again embrace its status as an international city.

James A. Elms, Wan Chai