TNAG-0972-FCO40-1191-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-1980 — Page 164

2

'hope', a newspaper published for the refugees and run by the

renowned Hong Kong journalists Derek Maitland and Kiran Daniel,

now began a detailed enquiry. At first the editorial rooms were

flooded with anonymous letters from the camps which had to be

smuggled past the camp administration. When 'Hope' announced

that anonymous letters were merely thrown in the waste-paper

basket, the refugees started giving more concrete information.

Among others, Nguyen Van Hung, boat number 3357/1, wrote that

more than 30 children had died since their arrival at the

Chimawan camp in July 1979 because they had been refused medical

aid.

Volunteers from the AMS, the Auxiliary Medical Service, report

hindrances and the Australian nurse, Susan L., in the Kai Tak

East camp reports: "One official from Caritas, the Catholic aid

organisation, recommended that we only treat the critically ill

camp inmates. His argument: these people have more money than

You and I. The first patient brought to Susan was a dead baby

'Hope' also reports another incident. Women from the British

Ex-Servicemen's Association had visited Chimawan. In their moving

report to 'Hope' they described how a lot of the children appeared

to be suffering from severe malnutrition, particularly those who

had been in the camp for some time. The women had brought toys

for the children. Before they left the camp they were requested

by the camp administration to take them away again. When some of

the children refused to part with the toys, uniformed guards

struck and kicked them.

13