Refugee vessel’s master might face jail sentence

Press, 30 December 1978, Page 1

Refugee vessel’s master might face jail sentence

NZPA-Reuter Hong Kong

A Taiwanese shipmaster harbouring 2700 desperate Vietnamese refugees could face jail and a heavy fine in Hong Kong if the “boat people” were found to have paid for their passage, a Hong Kong Government spokesman said yesterday. The master of the Huey Fong, anchored outside Hong Kong for a week, has said he picked up the refugees from nine fishing boats east of Ho Chi Minh City. But there has been widespread press speculation in Hong Kong about refugee racketeers and prearranged pick-ups. The Government spokesman said the master could be jailed and fined SUSIOOO for each passenger proved to have paid to be picked up.

Asked if there was anything to suggest the refugees had paid, one official said: "We have nothing solid on that, but there has been speculation here.” The ship is still in international waters and has not been searched. Hong Kong has refused to let her berth, arguing that the colony was not her first port of call. Some of the

refugees threaten mass suicide if the ship sails away.

The spokesman also gave warning that the Huey Fong refugees could not jump the Hong Kong queue. More than 4000 Vietnamese boat people are now awaiting resettlement in Hong Kong, and they take priority. “It is likely to take at least three to four years for all direct arrivals in Hong Kong to be resettled elsewhere,” he said. A United States Consulate spokesman said his country would be happy to help resettle the Huey Fong refugees, but they must be landed first and processed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. In Manila, the Philippines Government appealed urgently to 19 Western countries to take more than 2300 of the refugees aboard the Hong Kong-owned freighter Tung An, anchored in Manila Bay.

The Hong Kong refugees, speaking in a radiotelephone interview with NZPA-Reuter, begged the authorities to let the young and old off the ship. They also urgently called for

doctors after one old man suffered a heart attack. In Manila, refugees patted their stomachs to signal they wanted food when correspondents tried unsuccessfully to -draw up alongside the Tung An. The stench of poor hygiene and the ship’s rotting cargo of ■ cattle food and rice drifted across Manila Bay.

British authorities have accused the Huey Fong’s master of misleading both Taiwan and the refugees by sending a message to the Nationalist Foreign Ministry in Taipei which was “a total misrepresentation.”

He said the Hong Kong Government had told him the refugees would be accepted if Taiwan refused them. This was not the case, the Hong Kong Government spokesman said. Hong Kong’s stand against the Huey Fong has been generally supported here, but the Rt Rev. Gilbert Baker, Anglican Bishop of Hong Kong, and the Most Rev. John Wu, the colony’s Roman Catholic Bishop, said “They are knocking on our door and we urge the Government to allow refugees on board the Huey Fong to land.”

Few countries would respond to the Philippines Government’s plea to take the refugees, said the Minister of Works (Mr W. L. Young), the duty Minister in Wellington during the holiday period.

Asked whether the Philipoines had anpea’ed to New Zealand, Mr Young said he was not aware of any such request.

But he said: “Scrambling on to boats and fleeing your country, then crying for help, is not the way to do things. “I don’t think it would be looked on by many countries very favourably. You have to do this in an organised manner.”

The Minister of Immigration (Mr Bolger) said he was not aware of any request for New Zealand to take refugees and a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman reported that no word had been received from Manila. Last year, the Cabinet decided to accept a further 600 Vietnamese refugees, who are due to arrive in New Zealand in April.