An ethnic-Chinese Indonesian who has stayed in Hong Kong continuously for seven years but been refused permanent residency yesterday was granted the chance to make a new application by the Court of First Instance.
Go Tjoe Liek, a Chinese citizen, came to Hong Kong in 1959 from Indonesia on the strength of an Indonesian passport. He stayed until 1967, when he left to study in the US. Before his arrival, his sister had stayed for two years.
Mr Go applied for a permanent identity card around April last year but was refused. His appeal against the decision to the Registration of Persons Tribunal on March 22 this year also failed. He then applied for a judicial review.
Mr Justice Michael Burrell said the tribunal's reasons for dismissing Mr Go's application 'fall short of the minimum requirement'. He said legislation imposed an obligation on the tribunal to give reasons for its decision, which the tribunal failed to do.
The court heard that after examining records provided by the SAR and Indonesian governments, the tribunal had ruled 'there is no evidence to support his lawful entry into Hong Kong in 1959 and also his applications for extension of stay'.
During the appeal to the tribunal, Mr Go and his sister had testified about living in Hong Kong and making regular applications for extending their permits. But the SAR Government only found records of his sister's stay. An immigration officer was called to the tribunal to confirm that records of entry of tourists were only stored for 10 years.
