TNAG-1387-FCO40-1835-Future-of-Hong-Kong-nationality-and-citizenship-1986 — Page 112

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1981. When the then UMELCO Members anxiously and repeatedly

sought clarifications on the rationale behind the need to split

British Nationals into different classes and introduce the new

nomenclature for those British subjects residing in Hong Kong, we

were repeatedly assured then of the purity of intention of the

1981 British Nationality Act and that there were really no

sinister motives behind the change. Further, when UMELCO Members

learnt of the concessions about to be requested by Members of the

Upper House for the citizens of the Gibraltar and Falkland

Islands, we acted swiftly and started to lobby a number of peers

in the House of Lords on behalf of Hong Kong. We were unaminous

in deciding to send a delegation to London at our own expense to further buttress our lobbying efforts. Regrettably, our efforts were thwarted by people who were supposedly our friends through their skillful deployment of stalling tactics. We were advised by people whom we implicitly trust that the House of Lords will pass the Bill with a wide margin so that any further moves made by Hong Kong or indeed by any other places like Gibraltar and Falkland Islands would not have any chance of succeeding. British Government only managed to secure the miniscule margin of 2 votes and to add insult to injury the Gibraltarians and the Falklanders succeeded in making their seemingly impossible dreams came true. To this date, Sir, sadly, I venture to postulate that practically all of us who were UMELCO Members then still have the

The one question that nagging feeling of unease in our minds. will remain forever unanswered is that could we have turned the

Well, the