Sir,
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DRAFT SPEECH BY HON ALLEN LEE, OBE, JP LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 15.5.85
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Adjournment Debate on
The Vietnamese Refugee Problem in Hong Kong
In 1979, I wanted to ask a question with regard to Vietnamese Refugees in this Chamber. My question was to be, what is Government's policy towards Vietnamese refugees? What is the financial implication? Will we end up in accepting these refugees in the future? I put the question forward but it was ruled out of order before I had a chance to ask. Due to my inexperience at that time, I thought I could not pursue the matter any further. I have since visited refugee camps, and read the reports on Vietnamese refugees with interest. Hopefully, the countries accepting refugees for resettlement from Hong Kong will understand our situation.
Just recently, I went back to the Vietnamese refugee camps and I can say with a clear conscience that the treatment these Vietnamese refugees are getting in Hong Kong is better than a lot of people living in Hong Kong who are genuine Hong Kong residents. We have already spent close to half a billion Hong Kong dollars on the refugee problem and we are continuing to spend money on a daily basis out of the public purse.
In my
view, we have done more than our share based on humanitarian grounds or on any other ground. Very few people realise that we have already accepted 14,500 refugees into our community. We can stand up to the world and to any criticism with regard to our treatment of Vietnamese refugees. I would now like to ask the Hong Kong Government the question I was not able to ask in 1979. What is our policy towards Vietnamese refugees? What would be the long term implications? Do we have to accept the
rejects into our community? What is the solution?
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