ICAC Aims New Education Video At Ethnic Minorities

The ICAC says it hopes a new video it has produced will help get its anti-corruption message to new arrivals in Hong Kong and members of ethnic minorities.

The anti-graft body is worried that people from these groups are getting tricked into paying bribes when they look for work.

The video, which has been made in English, Cantonese and Putonghua, comes with subtitles in Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia, Urdu, Hindi, Nepali and Thai. It warns that some people may unlawfully ask jobseekers for an introduction fee in order to get employment.

Ng Kwok-chi, from the ICAC's community relations department, said it is important that the anti-graft body’s education efforts reach as many people as possible, including those who don’t speak Chinese.

"Due to the language barrier, they may encounter difficulties in jobseeking and obtaining public services ... their little knowledge of the anti-corruption laws in Hong Kong may cause them to fall into corruption pit-falls."

Government figures show that there were around 580,000 non-Chinese people in Hong Kong in 2016 – up 70 percent in a decade, and accounting for 8 percent of the total population.

Mohammad Sohail Rey, who works at Yuen Long Town Hall's Support Service Centre for Ethnic Minorities, said many people will be tempted to pay bribes to save their jobs.

He said it can also be difficult for officials to get in touch with people at risk of being exploited to tell them where they stand.

"They trust the person they know more, for example their parents or their friends ... and it takes time for them to bond with us. The friends maybe also don't know about the bribery [laws] so they say 'okay it's fine, you just give your money and then keep your job'."

The ICAC said it doesn’t keep records on how many of the complainants who come forward are not Chinese, and there hasn’t been a high number of prosecutions against ethnic minority residents. It urged anyone who does have concerns about corruption to seek advice.

The video will be shown at border control points and Immigration Department counters, and by NGOs.