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SCMP Reporter

HONG KONG'S own 'lost boy', seven-year-old deportee Hai Ho-tak, is back home with his family.

  There were triumphant smiles on the faces of Ho-tak and his delighted parents yesterday as the couple got to know their little boy again after nine months of government-enforced separation.

  Hawker Hai Keung-sing, 45, had grasped his son's hand as they walked through the Lowu immigration checkpoint at 4.15 pm on Friday, pausing only for the youngster to telephone his mother with a tearful 'Hello - I'm back'.

  And yesterday, they were out on the town, helping the boy who has been the subject of United Nations arguments in Geneva and heated exchanges between local legislators and officials settle back into the city he has always called home . . . even if the Government was not convinced.

  Mainland immigration officials unexpectedly issued Ho-tak with a one-way permit to Hong Kong last week.

  Mr Hai said Public Security Bureau officials told him they realised there was nobody to take care of the child on the mainland.

  While senior Hong Kong officials had negotiated with them to end the controversial separation, media pressure had also spurred the decision, he said.

  Ho-tak, the son of two Hong Kong citizens, was expelled from the territory on May 18, 1994, when his parents were unable to produce documents proving he was born here. The Government insisted he had close relatives on the mainland who could take care of him.

  China initially insisted it was unable to grant Ho-tak's application for a one-way permit, saying he had no documents proving he was born on the mainland either.

  But just two weeks after his deportation, the Post revealed he was living in a dingy Guangzhou flat with eight strangers. There were no close or distant relatives on hand.

  He could neither speak nor understand the local dialect, dared not go out on the street.

  Without mainland papers, Ho-tak was forced to conceal his true identity in order to attend school, and received six months of state education in Putonghua when he only spoke Cantonese.

  At Christmas, he faced further disruption when the housing block in which he was living was earmarked for redevelopment, and his adopted family said they could not take him into their already-crowded new home.

  But yesterday, it was all smiles as he savoured being back with his family . . . and tucked into a McDonald's burger.

  Little had changed in the territory, he said, but his parents appeared to have grown old during the months apart.

  'There are a lot of grey hairs on their heads,' he said. 'I think they worried about me. But now I'm back. They will soon become younger soon.

  'I'm longing to see my best friend Peng Chi-fai, who was my classmate in kindergarten. And I missed the cartoon of Dragon Ball a lot.'   Mr Hai thanked the Sunday Morning Post for finding his son on the mainland and highlighting his plight. He said Legislative Councillor Elsie Tu had also taken their cause to heart.

  Ho-tak's 18-year-old sister Hai Pui-shuen, and 17-year-old brother Hai Ho-mo were also on hand to welcome him, although another sister, 13-year-old Hai Pui-yee, remains on the mainland.

  The family said their prime concern this week was to find a school for their son and ease him into a normal life.

  The campaign to have Ho-tak reunited with his family gathered apace when his plight was raised at UN hearings on human rights in Geneva last November.

  Members of the UN Committee of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights were shocked by the situation and accused Hong Kong of having hypocritical attitudes on human rights.

  The Security Branch's principal assistant secretary, Maureen Chan Leung Mong-lin, yesterday maintained the Government would continue to enforce its one-way permit policy, saying there would be no exceptions.

  'We are happy Ho-tak is back, but I must emphasise that Government policy remains unchanged. It is up to the Chinese authorities to issue the documents,' she said.

  But the Government's inflexibility last night drew widespread condemnation.

  Society for Community Organisations (SOCO) director Ho Hei-wah said he was 'extremely happy' to hear of Ho-tak's return and thanked the UN representatives for shedding light his case.

  'But this case also revealed how heartless the Hong Kong Government was. They sacrificed a seven-year-old in order to prove their unchanging policy,' he said.

  Legislator Anna Wu said she was very happy that a tragic period for Ho-tak's family had ended.

  'I was upset by the Government's handling of the case. They kicked him out without ensuring the little boy would have someone to turn to and made him completely stateless,' .

      'Ho-tak is the son of a Hong Kong citizen, so he will have the right to stay after the change of sovereignty anyway. Why didn't the Government consider his special needs to let him stay?   'I think it is time for the Government to review their policy in order to avoid similar tragedies in future.' 



Hello, I'm back, says home again Ho-tak