I refer to Kevin Sinclair's column (South China Morning Post, March 22) and would like to assure him that Sha Lo Tung's 'invisible' indigenous population is very visible in Tai Po and other areas while they anxiously await a return to their roots.
There is no 'fake structure' in the rights of this indigenous population to elect village representatives as claimed by Mr Sinclair. Our ancestors settled in Sha Lo Tung more than 300 years ago (1689) and our villages have never been abandoned per se: They are still our spiritual homes where our ancestors are buried, where regular meetings are held during festival times and where homecomings are celebrated.
The villages - Cheung Uk and Lei Uk - have been idle since 1979 through no fault of their own. The villagers have been promised new houses in the valley by the developer, Sha Lo Tung Development Company, which is still waiting for government permission to build the 160 village houses for us.
For 20 years we have waited and waited and still nothing. Perhaps through our village representatives attention can be drawn to our plight. We want our homes and we want them now.
CHEUNG TIN-FUK (Cheung Uk) CHEUNG KOON-TAI (Cheung Uk) LEE WUN-CHOI (Lei Uk) Village Representatives Sha Lo Tung
