July, 2006

Justice and an Apology for the Right-of-Abode-Seekers

Rose Wu

Recently the Canadian government officially apologised to thousands of Chinese immigrants charged a special tax when they arrived in the country about 100 years ago and will pay surviving immigrants and their immediate families C$18,000 (US$16,168) in compensation. Between the 1880s and 1920s, Chinese immigrants to Canada had to pay a special tax of up to C$500 (US$449) just to enter the country. When the head tax was repealed in 1923, Chinese immigration to Canada was banned altogether for the next 25 years.

This recent news has reminded us of the appalling history of the Canadian government and how badly they treated Chinese immigrants at that time. After 126 years, the government of Canada finally has had the courage though to address the fact that the law was racist and discriminatory. Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada, openly admitted that the policies were shameful and had produced lasting effects upon Chinese-Canadians. He also acknowledged that the high cost of the head tax prohibited many Chinese immigrants from ever being able to reunite with their family members left behind in China and in some cases forced them to live in extreme poverty for years.

While we criticise today the Canadian government's discriminatory policies on Chinese immigrants in the past, Hong Kong's people should also remind ourselves that thousands of elderly men are still desperate to reunite with their families in mainland China after a seven-year legal battle with the Hong Kong government over right of abode.

In January 1999, the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) granted right of abode to Chinese citizens born outside the city if one parent was a permanent resident of Hong Kong. Rather than follow the CFA's judgment and allow all separated families to reunite in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong government instead asked the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) in Beijing to reinterpret the Basic Law's provisions on right of abode, which ruled in June that year that those born before their parents acquired residency were not entitled to abode. Even though the daily quota of 150 one-way permit holders for mainland immigrants to come to Hong Kong often now goes unfilled, these families are still not able to come to Hong Kong because they have no legal standing to get into the right-of-abode queue under the NPC Standing Committee's reinterpretation of the Basic Law.

As the years have passed, many people in Hong Kong have forgotten our own shameful history until four elderly men climbed on top of a footbridge in Wan Chai on June 19 and threatened to jump. Although their actions caused a traffic jam in the area for more than eight hours, it also reawakened people's awareness about this issue and generated new interest in their plight in the public's consciousness. While many people complained and criticised their actions for being too radical and for the long hours spent in traffic jams that caused a great deal of inconvenience, we must understand that their frustration and desperation are brought about by the Hong Kong government's own manipulation of the law in the first place in 1999: the government bears responsibility for the suffering of these families. Like the Canadian government, the Hong Kong government must admit that such policies are discriminatory and have had a long-lasting impact on the lives of the local families involved and their children in mainland China.

Let us listen to Tse Ka-kei's story that was reported in the South China Morning Post on June 18. Tse, 62, came to Hong Kong in 1981. His wife and their youngest son arrived 11 years later. Left behind, however, were their other three children. In 1994, his eldest daughter, who had a heart problem, came to Hong Kong and stayed until 1998 when she was arrested for overstaying her visa. She was put in jail for a month before the trial and for another month after the trial before being sent back to the mainland. She came back with an extended visa but, while waiting for right of abode, died. Their eldest son came to visit them in 1998, but one day when he went out he left his papers at home and was arrested. As for the third child, she was arrested and repatriated to the mainland when immigration officials raided the homes with people who had overstayed their visa a few years ago. Tse remembered that morning they came to his flat at 6 a.m. and took her away.

They now live in a 300-square-foot flat with only one bedroom. He stressed that they do not need help. He can work for a living. He now earns HK$7,000 (US$903) per month, and his wife makes about HK$5,000 (US$645) monthly. He said the reason he climbed on top of the footbridge and protested was because the Hong Kong government is doing nothing to help them. He has gone to every protest for right-of-abode-seekers and even has taken days off work to participate, he says, but no one cares. He believes that he must force the government to deal with the issue. He explains he is not scared to die if it can reunite his family.

Tse's story is only one of the 8,000 families who are living with such desperate circumstances. As a humane society, we must be critical about our government's right-of-abode policies which are, in fact, the root cause of the problem. We must also remind ourselves that our society's indifferent attitude also make the abode-seekers feel helpless and desperate. When will our government make an apology to the abode-seekers and compensate them for their years of suffering and separation from their families?

As the right-of-abode-seekers have suggested, the government could create a subcategory for them within the 150-per-day quota so that their children on the mainland will have a proper channel to join the queue and to know that one day they would be reunited with their parents in Hong Kong.

May God grant us a new heart and a new mind so that we can see the shame and disgrace of what our discrimination has done to the abode-seekers and their families. May we work for justice for the abode-seekers and bless them with compassion.