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ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT ALLOWED TO STAY
The non-Communist Press welcomed the decision to allow a woman illegal immigrant, Chan Kwai-fong, to stay here and be re-united with her husband. The general consensus was that while there was a need to stop illegal immigrants from entering Hong Kong, humanitarian grounds must be given due consideration in individual cases. The Oriental Daily thought that those who had relatives in HK and who could make a living here should be allowed to stay.
Three papers, The Express, Kung Sheung Daily News and the Hong Kong Daily News, questioned the need for the present repatriation policy under which illegal immigrants caught were immediately sent back to their places of origin. The Express said the policy would be a "violation of human rights" under the Helsinki accord. Kung Sheung and the Daily News called on the Government to scrap the policy and work out a new arrangement.
Nam Wah Man Pao suggested that the Government work closely with the Chinese authorities so that those who wanted to be re-united with their families in Hong Kong could apply through proper channels to come here.
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None of the Communist papers commented on the issue.
THE OIL PRICE INCREASE AND A PROPOSAL TO RAISE TAXI FARES
Seven papers commented on last week's announcement that the oil companies would increase the prices of their petroleum products. Several of them commented on a proposal to increase taxi fares because of the oil price increase.
Sing Pao thought that the effect would not be too great but expressed concern that the oil price hike "may touch off a new round of price increases."
Wah Kiu Man Po was worried that oil prices might soar again in July when 11 petroleum-exporting countries would increase oil prices by another five per cent. There was also a possibility that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which had agreed to an increase of only five per cent, might change their minds and close ranks with the other oil-exporting countries, it said. The paper called on the oil companies to explain why the rate of increase in the price of industrial diesel and industrial fuel oil was bigger than that of other products.
Sing Tao Jih Pao said that higher electricity charges as a result of the oil price rise would push up production costs and place an additional burden on industry.
A proposal by taxi operators to raise fares came under attack by several papers. Sing Tao Jih Pao accused the Taxi Owners Association of "taking advantage of the situation" and called on the Consumer Council to keep a watch on it. The Oriental Daily described the proposed increase as “excessive” while Sing Tao Wan Pao called it "outrageous" and urged the Government to reject the taxi operators' application. Wah Kiu Man Po said the taxi owners' case was "far from convincing."