Speaking at the parade, Mr Chan said he hoped the graduates would keep in mind everything they had learned, and muster courage to take on challenges while carrying out duties in the future.

 

He pointed out that it is not easy at all to become a member of the Police nowadays. In face of increasingly complicated social problems and more social campaigns, Force members who are in the frontline have to apply professional knowledge with an extremely high level of emotional quotients at all times to deal with matters impartially and strictly according to reasons and law, so as to live up to the expectations of the people.

 

In any case, the graduates would never be alone in discharging duties, he said. They have Force members who support and give encouragement, seniors and predecessors who possess rich experience and members of the public who support the Force. They must be able to apply particular skills to uphold law and order, and enable citizens to lead peaceful lives, he said.

 

Meanwhile, Mr Chan noted that youths epitomised the future of a society and they had to equip themselves for the future. Under globalisation, young people have to compete with not only their peers but also young people from Asia and even different parts of the world.

 

In light of this, the Commission on Youth is undertaking a study to analyse the competitiveness of Hong Kong youth as well as their ability to adapt to environment.

 

Though the outcome of the study will be of great help to formulating youth development plans, concerted efforts by all sectors of society to groom the youth of the new generation is more important, he said, in particular to encourage them to be independent and well-equipped to handle problems discerningly and rationally, so that they would contribute to  the overall development of Hong Kong.