‘Boat people’ cheer as colony lets them land

Press, 22 January 1979, Page 8

‘Boat people’ cheer as colony lets them land

NZPA Hong Kong ; After enduring four weeks! | of hunger, thirst, and illness ipacked aboard the rusty [freighter Huey Fong, more than 3300 ’ Vietnamese refugees have been allowed to land in the British colony: of Hong Kong. The refugees went wild] with joy and shouted thanks to the British and Hong Kong Governments after being told of the decision, said reporters who got near the refugee ship. Offers from .., several nations to take some refugees from camps on Hong Kong allowed the Government to reverse its earlier stand barring entry to the freighter, which has! been anchored in' international waters since! December 23. The refugees were; processed on board two! ferry boats berthed alongsidethe freighter. When the passengers were brought ashore from the ship in the course of the next few days, they were kept separate from refugees already in Hong Kong camps

;; whilst their status was ; ; further examined. s[ Where appropriate, theii .[United Nations High': ■ ■Commission for Refugees' ; will assume responsibility vfor them. They will not beil 1 considered for permanent |i ■: resettlement elsewhere,! ;ahead of all those refugees]! already in Hong Kong and] .[under the care of the ! U.N.H.C.R., the Hong Kong 1 ! Government said. , The Government said [ ■ Britain would accept 1000 [ refugees from those already ’ in Hong Kong, Canada has , ! offered to take 300 to 400 J i from the same camps, and ' > the West German city of s Frankfurt has said it will 1 ' take 200. ; Authorities taking a i [tougher attitude towardsj- ■ [Vietnamese refugees still [1 [arriving on peninsular [I >1 Malaysia’s east coast on! >[ Saturday pushed a grounded;. ■ [refugee boat back into the ; [sea with a bulldozer and!) ytold nine refugees who were;: ■ in it to leave the country. I’ The Kelantan state p security committee secretary! i s (Mr Hassan Abdullah) saidp > authorities in Bachok town! I

-.gave the Vietnamese isupplies and ordered them to continue their journey elsewhere. Mr Hassan said that the local authorities on Saturday had pushed back another I refugee boat with seven Vietnamese aboard with the help of several fishing boats. The Malaysian Prime Minister (Datuk Hussein Onn), who last week visited Trengganu state where more than 38,000 Vietnamese are herded in two camps, has warned the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, United States, and other Western countries that Malaysia will no longer give refugees temporary shelter. He said the refugees, estimated to be more than 54,000 in Malaysia, had become an intolerable burden. Meanwhile, Datuk j Abdullah Ngah, directorgeneral of the National Bureau of Investigation has I said that he will visit Trengganu today to look into allegations that corrupt I officials were helping the refugees on payment of i bribes.