A passion for law

Fariha Salma Deiya Bakar is a 20-year old Bangladeshi student who is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in English Studies at the City University of Hong Kong. With the dream of becoming Hong Kong's first ethnic minority lawyer, she is a proud Legislative Council Political Assistant in the city's lawmaking body. Her work involves conducting policy researches, writing proposals and press releases, monitoring the development of policies and liaising with the media. She is also a member of the Commission on Children for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, which works for the benefits of children through policy formulation as well as coordination and follow-up on the implementation of measures.

As the Vice President of Project Ethnic Minority Empowerment at the City University of Hong Kong, she also offers mentorship programs for minority secondary students and cultural integration platforms for local and international students at universities. Bakar is also the Student Welfare Secretary of the 26th English Society of her university. She had her name amongst the Youth-To-Watch List and Diversity List consisting of ethnic minorities who are qualified and committed to serving the community and local government committees.

When asked about why she chose to work in the field of law, she shared that she believes in making her life purposeful by changing someone else's life for the better. She aspires to make Hong Kong a better place for ethnic minority groups.

Bakar's passion was further fueled by different tales of discrimination, faced by her friends hailing from other countries. She feels the need to increase awareness about fair and equal opportunities for minority groups.