Betrayed

AS THE NATIONAL flag was hoisted over Hong Kong on the night of the handover, solemnly marking reunification with China, the Yip family and many others like them had a different kind of reunion on their minds.

For the Yips, the ceremony symbolised a change in the law which they believed would give their daughter Yam-wa, then 13, and her two elder sisters the right of abode, allowing them to leave the mainland and join their parents, brother and grandparents in Hong Kong.

Three-and-a-half years later the family is indeed together and Yam-wa, now 17, has come top of her class at a Hong Kong school. But, following an appeal court defeat yesterday for more than 5,000 abode-seekers, she and her two sisters, aged 24 and 25, face being sent back to the mainland. This is despite a landmark ruling by the SAR's top court, the Court of Final Appeal (CFA), in January last year, that people who were born on the mainland but have at least one parent who is a permanent resident of the SAR, had the right of abode in Hong Kong.

The Yips had waited patiently for last year's crucial ruling, and the sisters only came to Hong Kong once it had been delivered. They trusted SAR officials who promised to implement the court's decision. But six months later, the Government instead had the judgment overturned by Beijing.

Although the legality of this has been upheld in court, abode-seekers affected by the reversal feel a deep sense of betrayal. For them, the Government has broken its promise and made them victims of a grave injustice.

Families like the Yips are outraged that their reward for trusting the legal system has been the loss of the right of abode, while many who sneaked into Hong Kong or have overstayed have been allowed to stay under special arrangements made by the Government.

'This is a man-made disaster. I think it is a crime,' says Mr Yip, 49, a businessman who prefers not to give his full name. Speaking of Yam-wa, he adds: 'If you ask her to leave, she will just become an orphan. Who has the right to take away my children?'