Home is where
you are born
LAST Friday I heard Mr Hari Harilela say on Radio Four that he was happy to be in Hongkong, that he did not want to leave but that he wanted the right to live in England and then concluded, in reference to England, "I want to go home."
If Mr Harilela is happy here and does not want to leave, why
does he want the right to live in England?
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A "home" country to anyone is that in which he, or she, is born. If Mr Harilela was born in England, he is British and entitled to go "home" at any time. If he was not born in England, he is not entitled to call England “home.” When he spoke about "Indians" did he mean Hindus and
Sikhs only and to the exclusion of the Muslims of Bangladesh or did he mean all from the subcontinent of India? He argued that because "Indians" are a minority group in Hongkong they are entitled to the right of abode in the United Kingdom, a contention which I find difficult to understand.
There are other minority groups in Hongkong. On the basis of Mr Harilela's contention, will they not also be entitled to the same right of abode and thereby cause a flood into over-crowded England with its millions of unemployed? In Hongkong there are over three million people entitled to hold the BDTC passport and who will be entitled to change to the new BNO passport. If these people believe that by changing to the BNO passport they will obtain the right of abode in the United Kingdom, which Mr Harilela and his friends hope to obtain, will they not do so and thereby swell the flood by over a million immigrants into England?
Quite clearly, Mr Harilela and his friends are worried about 1997, so why do they not now apply for Indian or Bangladesh citizenship in order that, should they not wish to remain in Hongkong after it is returned to China, they may go back to the land of their ancestors?
If, on the other hand, they are not worried about the future of Hongkong, why do they not apply to become citizens of China?
M.A.A. CRAWFORD
Not all are upset
THIS letter is in response to the article "Passports attacked
by Indians" (SCM Post, October 19).
It is wrong to say that BOC passports only give a right to
travel, but do not give a home to Indians.
Indians have a home in India. Why should they expect the right of abode in the UK. Those people who do not want to live in India, nor have any respect for their motherland, have no right to call themselves indians or represent the Indian community in Hongkong.
It is wrong to generalise that Indians are upset, when only
certain money-minded individuals seem concerned.
A PATRIOTIC INDIAN
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