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"Anyone who knows or understands this could not possibly make or believe such an accusation. It would mean that, not only were we conniving in acts of criminal intimidation and threatening behaviour, but we would be undermining the very basis of order and stability that is essential if the centres are not to degenerate into total chaos," he explained.
Mr Lai acknowledged that there had been clear instances of outbreaks of disorder or chaos, but pointed out that these were neither systemic nor endemic.
away.
"When there is an incident, it is just that: an event. It happens, and then it goes
"The chaos I am talking about is the state of permanent disorder which arises from the abdication of authority by those who are supposed to wield it. The difference is akin to that between a mass punch-up in Wan Chai, and handing over the reins of Government there to the triads," he added.
Mr Lai pointed out that it was despair that caused the periodic outbreaks of violence in the detention centres.
"Imagine that you have left your homeland in search of a better life, only to find yourself in a place like Whitehead for six or seven years.
"What sustains you is the hope that, one day, you will live in a big house in San Francisco. Then the hope is gone.
"You will not go to San Francisco but back to the same place whence you came. You have wasted six or seven years of your life, but worse, you have wasted six or seven years of your children's lives - an all for nothing," said Mr Lai.
He noted that the Vietnamese migrants would clutch at any "last straw" if one was there.
"Now there are people in Hong Kong and elsewhere in the world who are prepared to encourage the Vietnamese to remain behind the fences of a detention centre without offering them a realistic prospect of an alternative.
"Why these people do so is a matter between them and their consciences. The sad thing is the effect that this has on the very people whom they think, or profess, they are helping," Mr Lai said.