COLONIALISTS used to say that all Chinese looked alike, but the officials of our Immigration Department would appear to be even less discriminating. An Australian reporter for the South China Morning Post was handed passports for other caucasians, for a Pakistani and even for a Hong Kong Chinese, simply by turning up at the Immigration Department and asking for them.
A passport is a valuable document in any society, but in Hong Kong it is perhaps easier to put a price on a travel document than it is in many countries. An ordinary person with no criminal connections might not find it hard to think of places where a passport might be bought or sold. The territory boasts officials who are generally not corrupt, yet the integrity of documents issued or handled here will become suspect if the unscrupulous are able to exploit official carelessness.
The territory has a fluid population and at any one time is host to a large percentage of foreigners. Figures released just this week show that there are more than 116,000 resident Filipinos alone, not to mention nearly 30,000 Americans and 25,000 Britons. The growing number of expatriates places a heavy strain on immigration authorities, as does the increasing cross-border traffic with China, just as these authorities are having to cope with the heavy burden of local people making the enforced switch from British Dependent Territory Citizen to British National (Overseas) travel documents.
Lax security in the immigration department's passport collection counters could open a window of opportunity for criminals and people who are desperate to flee Hong Kong. Genuine passports may fetch thousands of dollars in the territory's black market. Any loopholes should be plugged before opportunists exploit the situation.
Immigration officials may well be overburdened, and their general fairness and politeness is to be commended. There is little doubt that services they provide are among the best in the territory's various government departments. However, the officials' failure to check the identity of people picking up passports, together with questions that have been raised over the quota system for Identity Cards, may lead the average citizen to wonder whether the department is being run as efficiently as it might.
The department should review its procedures and check that they are being correctly implemented, not only to protect the department's own good name but to protect the good name of Hong Kong. Prevention is always better than cure.
