Imagine working hard in your chosen profession for almost two decades before uprooting yourself and your young family to take on a new challenge.
That’s what Singaporean-born senior constable Zainon Mohamad Kassim did when she joined the Western Australia (WA) Police Force in 2008 as a multicultural police officer – having spent 18 years working in the Singapore Police Force.
“It was our first time visiting WA and our first time living, studying and working here,” the 52-year-old told AsiaOne over Zoom, recalling the difficult decision leaving Singapore for Australia’s biggest state.
She brought her husband, who works in the mining industry, and her five children – the youngest then was just a year old.
At that time, the WA Police Force was looking for experienced multicultural police officers to better understand the needs of a large, new and emerging culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) population, she said.
“It was their goal to have a diverse workforce that represents the community they are serving,” she said, going on to work with recently arrived migrants and refugees in Perth to build trust with the police.
Zainon, or better known as Zen, said she was the officer frontline agencies would consult to help with cases involving the CaLD community.
During the recruitment, she was keen to lend her expertise by sharing her knowledge and understanding of working with different cultures. She said: “I was born and raised in a multi-cultural society – Singapore.”
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9e0PFYIjKU[/embed]
Her engagement work was highlighted in the 2018 documentary Behind the Blue Line – Untold Australia.
At the 20:50 mark, Zen, wearing the tudung while in uniform, can be seen checking in on Hulya Kandemir – a Muslim woman who, in 2017, was assaulted in a shopping centre in what was reportedly a hate crime. In the film, she acknowledged and was thankful for Zen’s support during the court proceedings.
From issues such as family violence (44:20 mark) to something as simple as bridging language barriers, Zen has worked the ground continuously in these migrant and refugee communities.
She has mentioned in a report that for such communities, they are afraid of the police – because from where they were, they had a different and difficult relationship with the police.
Even though she was the first woman in WA police to wear the tudung in uniform, she didn’t start wearing it immediately.
Zen remembered during her 2007 recruitment interview when she was told there was no policy for wearing the tudung in uniform, but the organisation was working on it. They asked her if she was alright with the then-situation.
She understood: “If it’s not part of the policy, then I can’t be walking around in uniform wearing a tudung.
“I respect WA Police Force that they value and understand what modesty meant from a Muslim woman’s perspective,” she said.
She added that until they passed the policy, the organisation needed to design the tudung, ensure that it was safe for training, and suitable for office and ceremonial events.
During the trial period, she said, the WA police actively sought feedback and suggestions from her, of which she was appreciative.
“I’ve been through a lot and I know how people will perceive you,” she said, reflecting on all her experience from 18 years at the Singapore Police Force, “and how people are going to react.”
It was only in her fourth year, while working for the traffic police, that she was asked to try a few tudung designs for a trial period with her uniform. “You don’t want it to look awkward with different [clashing] colours,” she said, giving feedback such as safety issues and making sure it looked presentable.
She feels she has come a long way from her first day in 2008 doing the transition course in the police academy with squad mates from different parts of the world such as England, South Africa and Switzerland – and as the only one wearing the tudung.
“The advantage of wearing a tudung as part of my uniform, it gives me easy access to religious establishments," she said, "and allows me to openly communicate with religious leaders and CaLD parents seeking my advice or assistance.”
For her work building positive relationships between the police and migrant communities, Zen was awarded an Outstanding Individual Achievement Award at the WA Multicultural Recognition Awards in 2016, in less than a decade working there.
In a media statement, it said: “She has advocated strongly on behalf of CaLD communities and is particularly focused on the issue of domestic violence and providing advice and help to migrant women.”
The statement also acknowledged Zen as the first woman in WA police to wear the tudung in uniform, and that she actively encourages those with a multicultural background to consider a career in the police force.
When asked about Singapore, she said it was a difficult decision to leave but her attachment remains strong. She became an Australian citizen four years after arriving there.
“My grandparents were from India and they migrated to Singapore for business and there was where my dad was born,” she said with a laugh. “So that means my dad was first generation, and I am second generation.”
She said: “Singapore is my birth country which will be always close to my heart.”
zakaria@asiaone.com
