I’ve always been fascinated by the Sikh community in Hong Kong.
In this old postcard (and by old, I’m talking 100 years), these Sikh policemen are standing over a couple of criminals who look like they’ve seen better days.
A long time ago I read how the British employed Sikh police officers across their colonies and instructed them to carry out their dirty work. So if the locals grew resentful of police treatment, they could blame the aggressors–the Sikhs–and not the people directing the show.
How convenient.
And then in the early 1950s that all changed. The Sikhs were kicked off the Royal Hong Kong Police Force when the British feared they would turn against the colonial government in light of the growing tensions on the Subcontinent several years after Partition. The thing about the Hong Kong Sikhs is that most of them hadn’t even set food in India. They were born either in Hong Kong or in another British colony.
So after they were forced to leave the police, many found work as security guards in banks or gold shops and still work there today.
“A long time ago I read how the British employed Sikh police officers across their colonies and instructed them to carry out their dirty work.”
It’s called divide and rule, Susan. We didn’t invent it, the Romans did! 🙂
Also I think their cashiering after the war was more to do with what happened here under Japanese occupation.
Yeah, I think some of the Sikhs may have helped the Japanese during the war, but I thought Philip Snow mentioned in “The Fall of Hong Kong” that it wasn’t until 1952 or so that they were all removed from the police force. It reminds me of the Japanese-Americans who were interned during WWII and now where many people in the US harbor hostile feelings against Muslims. Can’t we all just get along?!