Spirit of crusader Pam Baker celebrated

The campaigning spirit of late lawyer and human rights activist Pam Baker lived on during a celebration of her life last night, with speeches lauding her justice fight on behalf of right of abode claimants and Vietnamese refugees.

At a non-denominational service attended by an estimated 400 people, Catholic Coadjutor Bishop Joseph Zen Ze-kiun thanked Baker - who died last month in Britain from lung cancer at the age of 71 - for her perseverance in fighting for the rule of law and all she had done for Hong Kong.

Bishop Zen has been an outspoken critic of the Government's failure to grant mainland children born to a Hong Kong parent the right to live in the SAR, the last fight taken on by Baker.

About 50 right-of-abode seekers and families joined the celebration at the Caritas Centre in Caine Road, Mid-Levels, along with barristers, including Democratic Party leader Martin Lee Chu-ming, solicitors, former Vietnamese refugees, friends and journalists.

Her longtime friend, John Ball, said although Baker had studied law after leaving school at the University of Saint Andrews, Scotland, she had not started practising until reaching her 50s, when she took a job with the legal aid service in Hong Kong. Her application to join a chambers in Britain in the early 1980s was rejected and 'the loss was a tremendous gain for Hong Kong', he said.

He said Baker had 'operated on a shoestring' budget when she opened her practice serving Vietnamese asylum seekers.