1
OUR
YOUR
葉錫
恩
(MRS.) E. ELLIOTT.
TEL. 0-422414
REFI
HEP:
With HKK 360/2R
55. Kung Lok Road, Kwun Tong.
KOWLOON,
Saga of the Village of Peace and Happiness, Hong Kong
Seven villagers' families had lived for ten to more than twenty years on a small plot of land in the Village of Peace and Happiness (On Lok Tauen).
The land was not theirs, but the landlord had no use for it and allowed them
to stay there with their pigs and poultry.
This peace was broken a few years ago when the landlord sold the land, and soon the new landlord began sending his agents to visit the tenants and
threaten to evict them immediately. On one occasion the police were called in and the threats stopped. Legal action began and went on for years. But in the end the
landlord won and the villagers knew they had to move.
The Government District Office was approached and promised to allocate
a resite for the villagers. The landlord promised compensation to facilitate the removal. Bargaining began with the villagers asking a total of $80,000 for the
families to rebuild their huts and piguties and remove to the new location.
Finally the landlord agreed to give the villagers $60,000 and a time extension
of twenty days to build their new huts. The agreement was made at 2.00 p.m. on 24th. May, 1979. The Government had allocated the site and everyone seemed
satisfied.
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The same night, 24th. May, the landlord sent his agent to say that he
rejected all the conditions, that he would give each family $3000, and they must remove
by Sunday, 27th. May. The villagers were in a panic and ran from office to office,
but the landlord had chosen his time well: no one was available and Saturday
is an office holiday.
What arrangement s the landlord made with the police it would be interesting to know, and why a matter being dealt with by the District Office
suddenly became a police para-military operation is also a matter for investigation.
Whatever answers may be found to these questions, the fact is that at 9 a.m.
on Sunday, 27th. May, police surrounded the Village of Peace and Happiness and
ordered the people to get out of their homes as they were to be demolished.
According to Government releases, the people threw stones and bottles at the
police, which led to police using tear gas. People who try reason and negotiation
but find themselves frustrated by an officialdom that is always on the side of