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964556
MDADAN 9861
THE DAY. NEARLY A DOZEN MEMBERS SPOKE AND ABOUT THIRTY MEMBERS WERE THERE THROUGHOUT. ALL SPEAKERS (MOSTLY LIBERALS) WERE STRONGLY IN FAVOUR OF THE MOTION IN PRINCIPLE. THERE WAS ONLY DISAGREEMENT ON WHETHER THE MCGREGOR MOTION OR THE ARCULLI AMENDMENT WOULD BE MORE EFFECTIVE, AND THIS DISAGREEMENT FELL ALONG PARTY LINES.
5. THE TONE OF THE ATTACK ON THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT WAS ALSO CONSISTENTLY STRONG, RANGING FROM THIS UNDERLYING RESENTMENT ON BEHALF OF ALL BDTCS, THROUGH MOCKERY OF THE THIN CLAIMS OF THE BOC, TO GENERAL REMINDERS OF THE FATE OF INDIAN MINORITIES IN OTHER COLONIES.
6. PERHAPS THE MOST DAMAGING LINE OF ATTACK, WHICH WE WERE NOT ABLE TO ANSWER FOR YOU, WAS THE CLAIM THAT BOCS WERE EFFECTIVELY STATELESS. JOHANNES CHAN, LEGAL HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERT AT HONG KONG UNIVERSITY WAS QUOTED MORE THAN ONCE AGAINST WHAT WAS SEEN AS HMG'S LEGALISTIC SMOKESCREEN. STATELESSNESS MEANT LACK OF RIGHT OF ABODE, IT WAS FELT IN LAYMAN'S TERMS. AFTER ALL, AS HOWARD YOUNG MENTIONED, EVEN CERTIFICATES OF IDENTITY ARE WORTH MORE THAN BOCS IN THAT THEIR INDICATION OF RIGHT OF ABODE HERE HAS WON THEM VISA-FREE TRAVEL TO SINGAPORE AND SOUTH AFRICA.
7. ANOTHER TELLING FOCUS WAS ON THE BOC AND ITS TWO GENERATION CUT-OFF. A RARE POINT MADE IN YOUR DEFENCE WAS MADE IN THIS RESPECT BY DR LEONG TELLING HIS COLLEAGUES THE EVEN GENUINE BRITISH CITIZENS CAN LOSE THEIR CITIZENSHIP AFTER THREE GENERATIONS BORN OVERSEAS.
8. THE SECRETARY FOR SECURITY'S REPLY IS BEING FAXED TO YOU SEPARATELY.
CONCLUSION
9. ON THE WHOLE IT WAS A WELL INFORMED DEBATE AND THE MOTION, CARRIED NOT UNANIMOUSLY BUT BY ACCLAIM, SEEMED TO REPRESENT A GENERAL FEELING OF SPECIAL SYMPATHY FOR THIS SMALL MINORITY AMONG BOTH REPRESENTATIVES AND, AT LEAST AS INDICATED RECENTLY IN THE ENGLISH MEDIA, BY THOSE REPRESENTED.
COMMENT
10. THE FLAVOUR OF THE DEBATE WAS WIDER, AND THUS MORE DILUTED, THAN THE PRESS COVERAGE MIGHT IMPLY. MANY MEMBERS MADE THE POINT OF SAYING THEY STILL THOUGHT (NEXT WORD UNDERLINED) ALL BDTCS SHOULD BE GIVEN BRITISH CITIZENSHIP BY BRITAIN. IT IS
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