【明報專訊】Our city has long been a beacon of hope to many seeking shelter and safety. It was once a lighthouse for Vietnamese people, who, fleeing a disastrous civil war (內戰), sailed across stormy seas in search of political asylum (政治庇護).

It is clear from the Tai A Chau (大鴉洲) revolt, which happened twenty-two years ago yesterday, how disgruntled (不滿) refugees were when their hopes were shattered.

1. The background

In December 1956 the Vietnam War (越戰) broke out between North Vietnam, a communist regime (共產政權), and South Vietnam, which was backed by a US-led league of anti-communist countries. The war raged on for nearly 20 years and caused heavy casualties. Saigon (西貢) fell to the North Vietnamese in April 1975. Vietnam was reunified the following year.

Terrified by the prospect of communist rule, people in South Vietnam fled (逃離) in droves. They got aboard cargo ships in search of a safe place. Hong Kong, which was then under British rule, was one of their destinations.

2. The influx of refugees

On 4 May 1975, Clara Maersk, a Danish freighter (貨輪), arrived in Hong Kong, carrying on board more than 3,600 Vietnamese, who were packed like sardines (沙甸魚). Accepted as refugees, they would subsequently be resettled in the United States, France, Germany, Australia, and Hong Kong. Immigration escalated after the Vietnamese government had begun ethnical cleansing (種族清洗).

In 1979 Murray MacLehose (港督麥理浩), who was then Hong Kong governor, declared in Geneva (日內瓦) that Hong Kong would be a ''port of first asylum'' (第一收容港) responsible for taking in Vietnamese immigrants before they were reallocated to Western countries, but the Hong Kong government would repatriate (遣返) those ineligible (不合資格) for resettlement. The year saw more than 68,700 people arriving in Hong Kong from Vietnam.

The influx continued. In 1988, the Hong Kong government adopted a Comprehensive Plan of Action, under which political refugees (known as refugees) and economic refugees (known as ''boat people'', 船民) were dealt with differently. Boat people, regarded as illegal immigrants, would not be resettled in other countries. They would be repatriated immediately.

In the 1990s the Hong Kong government began an ''orderly repatriation programme''. Vietnamese boat people were asked to return to their own country on the understanding that they would not be persecuted. It was poorly received by the immigrants. Eventually the Hong Kong government decided to forcibly repatriate Vietnamese boat people.

3. Riots in refugee camps

Vietnamese immigrants were housed in refugee camps when they awaited resettlement. Some of these camps were on islands like Stonecutters Island (昂船洲), Tai A Chau (south of Lantau Island) and in places like Pillar Point (望后石), Sham Shui Po, Sha Tin and Sai Kung. After the Hong Kong government had begun to repatriate boat people, riots broke out frequently. On 21 May 1992, refugees threw stones at officers at the Tai A Chau Detention Centre. Police officers arrived at the scene and used tear gas to break up the uproar. On 10 May 1996 refugees at the Whitehead Detention Centre (白石�坒d中心) revolted. They set fire everywhere and held hostage Correctional Services (懲教署) officers. Hundreds of them escaped from the camp.

4. Later events

Hong Kong ceased to be a port of first asylum on 9 January 1998, and the Pillar Point Detention Centre, the last detention camps for Vietnamese immigrants in the world, ceased operation in 2000. In total more than 143,700 Vietnamese refugees arrived in Hong Kong from 1975 to 1999.

◆Think and Study

Today the refugee problem still causes many governments grave difficulties. Why is that so? What can be done to help settle refugees?