The Court of Final Appeal judgment on people striving for right of abode without going through the proper procedures is definitive. The ruling says those who had arrived in Hong Kong after January 29th 1999 must return to the mainland to apply for the Hong Kong-issued Certificate of Entitlement and the mainland-issued One Way Permit that will qualify them to live in the Special Administrative Region. The government has instructed the police and the Immigration Department not to enforce the court order until after March as a goodwill gesture.

The Liberal Party's position on the issue has been consistent. We want the SAR government to persuade the Central Government not to discriminate against these people when they return to the mainland and to observe their status as children of permanent residents entitled to live in Hong Kong under Basic Law Article 24.

Many are sympathetic to these people and understand their anxieties and fears about going back and not being allowed down again. We do not want them to be put to the back of the queue on the mainland because they have not obtained their One Way permits before coming here. Neither do we want those aged 18 or above to be denied their chance to live in Hong Kong because all children of Hong Kong permanent residents by right deserve to be with their families. In fairness to other eligible applicants, we do not support preferential treatment for these people but we wish that they could return to Hong Kong as expeditiously as possible. We also urge the SAR and Central Governments to work together to facilitate their return to Hong Kong, this time with the proper papers and in an orderly fashion.

Secretary for Security Mrs. Regina Ip has agreed with our stance and will negotiate with the Central Government to assist those involved in achieving what is guaranteed to them by the Basic Law. We in Hong Kong have been divided on the emotive issue about how to deal with them but what is uniting us is the conviction that these people be treated with fairness and dignity.

Our government has also proven this commitment in action. Chief Executive Mr. Tung Chee-hwa has expanded the program to help legal arrivals assimilate despite the recession and the looming record budget deficit. He has appealed to the community in his policy address not to be biased or unwelcoming in any way towards these people who shared not just our nationality but also our confidence in Hong Kong .

Many tens of thousands from the mainland who are children of our permanent residents have the right guaranteed to them by the Basic Law to reside in Hong Kong. What we have to do, for their sake and ours, is to process them into the SAR so as not to over burden our facilities.

Some may argue Hong Kong is too crowded to receive such a huge influx from the mainland. They say we have evolved from a manufacturing center with plenty of labor-intensive jobs that in the past allowed us to absorb waves upon waves of migrants to one of high finance requiring workers of higher education and technical skills. This is not true because the new arrivals, mostly children, can acquire the education and the skills when they have settled down here after a few years.

We have many examples of migrants who have become the best students and the most admirable professionals as well as astute businessmen. Mr. Tung himself came from the mainland, as did a good portion of our leaders of community. The tenacity of these people who have tried all they could over the past four years to contest their return to the mainland for the proper documents shows that they have tremendous will and resourcefulness, qualities that are essential to success. In the future these people will surely contribute to society

The Liberal Party is proud that throughout the drawn out controversy, lasting from the middle of 1997 to now, the Hong Kong public has been very patient and understanding. We ourselves have reached a degree of maturity that enables us to appreciate the rights of those seeking to reside here and the need for those rights to be honored within the law. There has never been any recrimination towards these people, not even after a tragic incidence at an Immigration Department office because we felt that the extreme actions of a few should not taint the character of the many. These people have exercised their access to legal aid, sought redress through the courts, appealed to the media, and demonstrated on our streets which show to the world that "one country, two system" works and Hong Kong is an enlightened, liberal society.

The policy issue is finally settled. What remains to be resolved, then, is the processing of applications, which might create administrative problems that are not insurmountable. History shall one day reflect on the twists and turns of the right of abode cases 1997-2002 as a moment in which we in Hong Kong show our capacity for both compassion and respect for the law.

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