ENG-1979 — Page 32

THE BOAT REFUGEES FROM VIETNAM

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then Co-ordinator for Refugee Affairs, Mr Richard C. Clark, said that Hong Kong's reception of the refugees was more efficient and humane than elsewhere in the region. On June 30 a similar tribute was paid by the British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, Lord Carrington, when he visited the Government Dockyard camp and its 12,000 occupants - a visit which was warmly appreciated and which led to a markedly better understanding in London and other capitals of Hong Kong's situation in this crisis. Thirdly, praise for Hong Kong's record was expressed by the Vice-President of the United States, Mr Walter Mondale, during his visit in early September.

Even more moving was the gratitude, very simply expressed in speech or on paper, that came from refugees themselves. Most letters were of a personal nature: the services for which people were thanked were ones rendered in the course of duty, without thought of praise or reward.

What of the fact that about 20,000 refugees took paid jobs in the course of the year, providing many manufacturers with much needed labour-at a time of nearly full employ- ment? This was a positive factor in the short term but, in actuality, economic motives were not the reason for allowing the refugees to work. Any short-term industrial advantage has to be weighed carefully against the tensions and friction that could arise in the event of a world recession and a cut-back in the manufacturing labour force. Also, one cannot ignore the fact that, while the refugees were pleased to undertake employment, very few of them expressed any wish to stay in Hong Kong so long as the chance existed of resettle- ment elsewhere: they wanted to go to the West. Very few, in any case, had close family ties (unlike the immigrants, both legal and illegal, from China).

On the debit side, two items could be distinguished. Because of the demands on manpower and resources at the height of the influx, medical care could not always avail to save the lives of newly-arrived refugees who fell ill when already exhausted by their journeys. While such cases did occur, mercifully the death rate among the refugees was low - it was not significantly higher than that of the Hong Kong population overall.

The direct cost to the government of goods, services and facilities provided for the refu- gees up to the beginning of September, when the UNHCR accepted the financial burden for the care and maintenance of all boat refugees in Hong Kong, was about $65 million (US$13 million). By the end of the year the cost to the government had risen to about $72 million, and this amount does not take into account the wide range of indirect costs, includ- ing the use of valuable land resources.

Without doubt, the losses and damage which hurt most have been like the gains uncountable. If a more specific pointer is demanded, then, taking into consideration illegal immigrants from China as well as the Vietnamese refugees, the two influxes add up to more than the additional population planned over a five-year period for any of the new towns being developed in the New Territories.

To attempt more precise calculations on such a 'balance sheet' would be as idle as to invent tidy conclusions. Indeed, the people of Hong Kong could only enter the new year in a mood of sober realism, a mood sharpened by continuing news of the tragic outflow from Cambodia of the victims of famine and armed conflict. It was yet another reminder to Hong Kong that hopes shadowed by uncertainties dominated the scene.