Secondly, the unjustified expenses in the region of hundreds of millions to lock up these boat people and to implement the screening policy pertaining to forced repatriation of all those regarded as illegal immigrants. I refer to an SCMP headline June 23 " Extra 409 million to Screen Boat people".
Thirdly, the much tarnished image of HongKong as a civilized society and international centre within British justice.
I put it to the Governor Sir David Wilson - Isn't it true that instead of spending the hundreds of millions of HongKong Taxpayer's money to implement such draconian policies as closed camp imprisonment and screening pertaining to detention without trial and camp beatings by the correctional service officers etc., these boat people could have been given the alternative of humanitarian treatment such as being under the care of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other voluntary agencies, to be given an identity so that they can be freed to work, given the fact that they have already landed in this British colony of HongKong. Hong Kong is supposed to suffer from an acute shortage of labour, judging from various recent news headlines. To liberate these 'imprisoned' Vietnamese as a workforce seems too rational and logical to be acceptable to the complexity of government bureaucracy, perhaps?
I put it to Sir David that there is now great urgency for a rational remedial policy, bearing in mind that any identity freeing the boat people must mean final British identity (because of the British colony status of HongKong). However, there should be plenty of time in these transitional years for these British nationakto learn the English language and make their own way for future emigration.
Brisbane
wa
Kenneth D.Kwan
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