THE
last 1,400 Vietnamese boat people held in a Hong Kong detention
centre are to be given residency status in the former British colony
and the only remaining camp, Pillar Point, will be closed in May.
The decision brings to an end one of the sorriest sagas in Hong
Kong's history. At one stage 60,000 boat people were interned in
camps while their pleas for refugee status were being heard.
Attempts to repatriate the last of the boat people to Vietnam or to
find them homes in third countries have failed. Now, the final 1,400
will be given the opportunity to live and work in Hong Kong.
More than a third of those affected by the ruling know no other
existence, having been born behind the barbed wire fence of the
Pillar Point camp since their parents arrived from Vietnam. The
first boat people arrived in Hong Kong in 1975. The British
authorities later declared Hong Kong a port of first call and opened
holding centres for those fleeing Communist oppression in Vietnam.
At the height of the crisis a total of 60 centres were in operation.
Regina Ip, Hong Kong's secretary for security, said the decision
represented the end of a painful era for the former colony. "I think
it will help them integrate into our society. And hopefully, we'll
put an end to this chapter of Hong Kong history," she said. "We
believe that a majority of these people would accept the offer as
this is the only option."
The colonial government and its successor repeatedly failed to
meet Beijing-imposed deadlines to send back the Vietnamese. Since
the July 1997 handover, the Hong Kong government has relaxed
security in the holding centres. Internees have been allowed out of
the compound to find work.
Conditions at Pillar Point, while spartan, are much better than
at the infamous Whitehead Detention Centre, which was the scene of a
series of riots in the mid-Nineties. In 1996, 119
Whitehead inmates escaped during a protest at
conditions inside the camp. An encampment of temporary military huts
in which people slept in bunks three high, Whitehead was closed just
before the handover. High Island, also the scene of riots, was shut
down a year later.
In Pillar Point's long three-storey blocks, the refugees have at
least one room per family. The camp is more accessible than the
isolated High Island and Whitehead facilities. However, the
buildings in the camp lack heating or air conditioning, which means
that rooms are sweatboxes in the summer and ice cold during the
winter.
Chan Man-yin, one of the affected refugees, said last week that
the proximity of the camp to ferry services and the light railway
had enabled him to find employment as a labourer. He said that
freedom would enable him to find more work. "Hong Kong is better
than other places. If you work hard there's a job for you. I just
hope that the identity card can help me to find a job more easily."
Like many of those affected, Mr Chan is a long term resident of
the Hong Kong camps. One official said that the average boat person
had lived in Hong Kong for more than 10 years. A third have
convictions for minor criminal offences. The decision to close
Pillar Point will save the public purse almost £2 million a year.
Ordinary Hong Kong residents have deeply resented the cost of
maintaining the centres. The Government says it is still owed £92
million by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
9
January 1998: Hong Kong to refuse Vietnamese boat people
4
December 1997: China tells Britain to take more boat people
4
January 1997: Boat people cleared out of protest
camp
13
May 1996: Police comb Hong Kong hills for Vietnamese Boat people