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SCMP Reporter

CHANCE plays a major part in whether people who fall suddenly ill get help from the people of Hong Kong, according to a Sunday Morning Post survey.

  Our investigation follows two tragic cases in the headlines last week in which indifference cost women their lives.

  Ip Wing-sze, 19, was raped and murdered in Tuen Mun last weekend. No one went to her aid despite her screams as the attacker struck. And there was controversy when a coroner found that 32-year-old Wong Ha-lin died of natural causes after she had been left to writhe in pain on a street in Kwai Chung.

  To see if Hong Kong people were as indifferent to suffering as these tragedies indicated, the Sunday Morning Post employed Australian actor Steven Lloyd and reporter Quinton Chan, both 24, to ''collapse'' at five locations.

  Lloyd, dressed in a suit and carrying a briefcase, started to buckle on a packed MTR train just as it approached Causeway Bay station.

  But he had no time even to hit the floor. Three men rushed to catch him and yelled at people to clear a seat, before gently placing him on it.

  Another passenger immediately contacted the driver, who said he would arrange help at the next station. And a young man fetched Lloyd's briefcase and umbrella and placed them gently on his lap.

  Soon a crowd of around 30 people had gathered round him, asking if he was okay, and whether he needed help.

  At Admiralty station, a somewhat revived Lloyd was escorted off the train and to the station exit by an MTR official - ''just to make sure he was okay''.

  But when Chan feigned an attack at the same place, nobody came to help even when he slumped to the floor, where he remained, largely ignored, for 10 minutes.

  At the Star Ferry terminal, it was less than a minute before a middle-aged Scotswoman and her companion stopped to help Lloyd when he collapsed again.

  ''I think I know this man,'' she said, as she gently rubbed his back. ''Are you on medication? Shall we go through your bag to get it?''   Soon afterwards three policemen arrived, one of whom immediately sprinted off. Had he gone to fetch an ambulance? The emergency services? No - a chair, from the nearby police station.

  ''Can we contact your family?'' one asked, as they eased him on to it.

  Poor Chan hardly raised a glance when he collapsed.

  When the exercise was repeated on the walkway between Pacific Place and Queensway Plaza, there was a less clear-cut result.

  Halfway across, Lloyd slowly slid down a pillar. This time the reaction took longer.

  The first to help were three Filipinos who surrounded him and speculated about his condition. ''It might be a heart attack because he's pressing his heart,'' they said.

  As Lloyd recovered, the first people on the scene insisted he stay put until they were convinced he was all right.

  They were followed by two equally considerate security guards who asked if he was all right and said he had only to contact them if he needed anything.

  When Chan repeated the exercise, he was, again, ignored.

  The reaction of people passing the Furama Kempinski Hotel in Central was even less impressive.

  Lloyd was down for almost five minutes in a raised flower bed before anyone came to his aid.

  But the poorest results, like the best, happened in the confines of the MTR system.

  This time Lloyd chose to collapse on a platform at Central. The area was almost empty when he started to lean against a pillar, gasping and clutching his throat. Gradually commuters flowed in, taking their places between the orange lines.

  Two people speculated as to whether he had been drinking and a few looked furtively in his direction.

  There was an almost collective sigh of relief when the train pulled in. The 50-or-so waiting passengers climbed aboard with hardly a backward glance.

  It was another minute or so before two MTR security men came to help and stayed with him for a while before they were convinced he had recovered.

  Even so, Lloyd said he had generally been heartened by people's reactions.

  ''I didn't expect people to be stepping over my body, but at the same time it was good to see how many people did offer to help. And how careful they were - when I collapsed on the train I had my whole weight on those people, and yet they put me down really gently,'' he said.

  Chan was less happy. A kindly MTR official spotted him when he collapsed at Central after he had been writhing in pain for five minutes.

  He asked if Chan was all right, then picked him up and took him to the nearby control room and asked again what was wrong.

  He also asked if Chan wanted medical help. He gave him a cup of water and put mint oil on his forehead.

  ''Apart from this last incident, it was very disappointing to find that Hong Kong people could be so hard-hearted,'' Chan said.



Getting help is a question of luck