救救孩子! - 從羅卓瑤的紀錄片《Letters to Ali》說起
《Letters to Ali》是羅卓瑤的第一部紀錄片，是一部她不想拍但覺得非拍不可的電影。風格很個人化，但無論在澳洲或香港放映時，不少人看完後都哭了。
紀錄片追隨澳洲女醫生Trish Kerbi一家人（包括她的丈夫及四個孩子）萬里長征，花三個星期時間開車到Port Hedland，探訪一個來自阿富汗的難民男孩Ali，藉此揭示澳洲難民政策不人道的一面。
為逃離塔里班的戰禍，才十多歲的阿里獨自一人越洋漂流到澳洲尋求庇護，卻換來長期禁錮，看不到明天。
Trish 透過志願機構認識了阿里，和他通信了兩年，阿里開始叫她「媽」，她的一家人也漸把他當作家人看待，不但為他辦 Bridging visa，還收拾好房間等待他入住，只是申請visa 卻幾經波折。
現時在澳洲有百多個難民小孩被關在拘留所，住在四面高牆、沒有窗戶的房間，阿里曾投訴自己遭性侵犯，但卻換來被獨自監禁了數天，從此，阿里不敢再投訴了。
很多非法入境者最後不被確定難民身份，由移民局遺返原地，但有些人一踏入伊朗等地的機場時即被殺掉；他們通常由移民局職員陪伴返國，但職員的任務是確定他們已返國，不是保障他們的人生安全。
可悲的是澳洲公眾對難民的事情漠不關心，政府又總把難民刻劃成罪犯及殺人兇徒。拘留所不淮傳媒或任何人拍攝，當日連Trish一家人要帶一件薄餅給他也被禁止。
Nature is beautiful. But people could be more beautiful.
影片總在最美麗的澳洲景色下訴說最殘酷的故事，令人聽了更心酸。
但最令人感動的是Trish一家人無私地為一個異族男孩四處張羅，這令我們對人重拾信心－人真的可以更美麗的。
從《Letters to Ali》網頁找到一些關於澳洲難民政策的資料，引述如下：
Australia is the only Western country that has a system of mandatory detention of asylum seekers including children, that also severely limits the capacity of detainees to obtain proper judicial review of their detention.
In August 2001, children made up 23.4% of all detainees. As at 11 Feb 2004, at least 174 children were locked up in detention centres in Australia. Some children have been imprisoned for years.
Children in detention have been found with lip sewing, slashing, ingestion of shampoo, attempted hanging and threats of self-hurt. Some suffer from bed-wetting, nightmares, depression and separation anxiety. Some are overly withdrawn, while others are overly familiar with strangers. Many exhibit impaired linguistic and cognitive development.
All the detention centres have been declared off-limits to journalists. All staff employed in the detention centre — including professionals like nurses, doctors and psychologists — are required to sign secrecy clauses and banned from speaking publicly about conditions inside.
放映後的座談會中，有觀眾提到香港人是否也應該反省一下，我們如何對待越南難民及大陸新移民的問題。朋友提醒我，香港當時只是越南難民的第一收容港，問題反而出在西方國家遲遲不肯收容這批難民的偽善態度。
然而在大陸新移民的問題上，我們又是否總帶著歧視或偏見的目光呢？但香港這個小島又真能收容這許許多多的人嗎？
我們總是在制度與人道立場之間找一個平衡點…… 只希望人總可更美麗一點。
搜尋
回應
不要老是想香港如何容納這麼多人
人不是物，地方也不是一個玻璃瓶．
六十年代初，香港很窮，當時中國大陸更窮，許多人逃難來港，不少人還到新界接濟難民．
當年的越南難民問題，西方國家（特別是美國）有很大責任，但香港當時對越南人的歧視，我是親眼目睹的，我唸大學時，香港還有禁閉營（大概跟澳洲對待阿富汗差不多），當時，我也是一位新來港人士，他們的困頓徬徨，我也有同感．
復活節的行動
http://baxter05.info/
越南難民問題 was not quite the same
I was very young then, but I still remember some major issues......
Of course a lot of them were harmless, but it happened that some of them intended to start fights, make weapons and to create problems within the camps. Internally, there were also problems between Northern Vietnamese and Southern Vietnamese. As I know, the Northern Vietnamese in general were the ones who attacked the Southern Vietnamese. It should be some historic, political issues, but I don't know very clearly as I was really very small then.
After I travelled to Vietnam some years later, I started to know more about the situation there, from the mouth of the tour guides. Some people did try to escape from their horrible lives there, but some were only dreaming of a 'paradise', like many illegal (and even legal) immigrants from Mainland China nowadays, to different western countries. I suspect no frequent visitor of In-Media is more familiar with the lives of illegal Chinese immigrants in Europe than I am, as I am actually living with them. Lack of information is always the biggest reason of the harsh life these people chose. Under wrong information, people's minds are always distorted.
And for one thing why people question how Hong Kong can accommod
The POPULATION DENSITY!
For the vast majority of the people in Hong Kong, the living space is too little. It is simply too crowded and people are living in small units of blocks...... Like Lego, each family owns one 'unit' of Lego block. Frankly, it is inhuman. I have been quite satisfied to live in a 24 square metred unit with my family, as I know many, many people are in much worse situation then we are, IN HONG KONG. ONLY in Hong Kong. The land price has been far too high, and the the space we have are unbelivably small.
I don't mean to reject immigrants, but does it make sense just to ask this little question, which practically concerns our daily life, obviously? Nobody from elsewhere could ever imagine how we do everything in my home, ever. No friends of mine from elsewhere believed it immediately. For them, it is simply unthinkable. Of course, we have all the facilities, and even luxuries, but the spaces are too precious. While we shouldn't 'make' more lands from the sea (I am against reclamation myself) and the buildings have been so tall that they are going to block all the hills we have, then we also want to keep the 'countryside' and green zones we managed to keep, of course, where is the way out? Being a citizen of the most densely populated city in the world, I wouldn't blame the immigrants for this situation, as it is not their faults, but it shouldn't be anybody's fault, while we are all suffering from it. Tell me, please, how to cope with it?
Some statistics
Population density is high in HK. But i don't think it's an excuse for rejecting new immigrants. I believe Frostig would agree with me.
The issue of population density is quite tricky. For example, the population density of kowloon (about 113,000/square km) is much higher than many places. But it's still much lower than the downtown of Macau (the pennisular of Macau, about 400,000/square km). And that of Hong Kong island (17,500/square km) is lower than many places, such as Macau (including Taipa and Coloane) (25,000/square km). No need to mention New Territories.
Despite these statistics, I'm not arguing that Hong Kong is not crowded. I'm just saying that cities are always flexibile. In fact, there is a much greater wave of new immigrants flooding into Macau than Hong Kong since the early 1990s. Yet, Macau people have larger accomodation space than Hongkongers.
High density is not simply caused by new immigrants. As you mentioned, high-land-price policy is one of the reasons. Better economic policies and planning are the ways of coping with it. I don't have any clear idea. Let's have more discussion.