principally its mony illegal immigration rackets all necessitate wide and clear powers to
control immigration. However, both the legal powers and the administrative practica
must be changed to make it clear that the law is being obeyed by the officials concerned,
that decisions are properly considered and explained and that people affected by decisions c
first given a fair, open and impartial hearing. Had this bean done the Vietnamese refugees
and their relatives would have had better remedies than rioting violently in the darkness
of the small hours at Kai Tak Airport. Such changes will not weaken the authorities' power
but may well ease the burdens of the patient policemen who have to cope with the riots
and of the conscientious judges who are kept out of bed to deal win late-night applications
for Habeas Corpus.
4.
: