THE BOAT PEOPLE ANAGE' INVE! Grant, Bruce book Penguin JI Penguin Bwb The Boat kople Y w An 'Age' Inwst~dtian Bruce Grant, author, diplomat and intcrmtionai affeirs writer, was born i kr131,Western Auamlia, in 1925. He was foreign correspondent in Europc, Aaia and America (1954-65), Nicman Fellow at Harvard University (l958), Fellow in Political Science at Melbourne University (1965-68), columnigt for L the Age (1968-72) and Ausaalian High Commissioner in India (1973-761, His publicwiona include Zndorresia, i'k Criris The Secun'~of SOYIJI- Eat Ark, fiction in leading journsl~such as the New Yorb, and I nwel, ChyBh, to be published in 1980. The ktPwpls draws on the repotts of foreign correspcndcna of the Aus- mlian newspaper, the Age, which undenwk this rpeci~lintmitiond inveb- ligation into the events behind the refugee crisis. The boat pcople's story I pivoted on South-Fast Asia, where correspndenr Michael Richrdm has I ken following dcvelopmcnts and filing authoritative reports for sevm yean. He uawlled cxtensivcly throughout the region to inmicw, research and repon for this book. Conuibutom: Crcighton Burns (USA);Jennifer Byrnc (Canada); John Slcc (Japan); John Hodfman (Chh); Sunanda Dattu-Ray (India); Dcv Murarkn (USSR); hvid Mitchell and David Young (New Zealand); huick Royce (London); Chris- topher Mc~y(Sweden); Robin Smytb (Fmncc); Colirr Smith (L'SA); Rttxccu Bnttirs and Lindsay Murdoch (Aulsrralia). THE CELLAR DOQK SHC)@ PapinBooks Ltd, Harmwdrwnnh, Middkwr, Hnghd Preface vii kW -1 Inuoduction 1 623 Msdiwn Avenue. Ntw Brk N.Y 10022, U.S.A. Rnguin Rmks Aulmlia Ltd, 1 Landfall 7 487 Mamodah Hibway Rinpood. Vkh.Aulmlir 2 Legacy 33 hguin Boeks Cw& Ltd, 2801 John S-I, Markhuh Ontub, Clnrrln 3 Armada 51 Penguin Amks (N.Z.)I.td, 18&190 Wahu W,Aukland 10, Nnv Zcsbd 4 Exodus 82 Firat publirhtd 19n 5 Trafficking 108 Cn~yrightD Tk Ap, I979 Mode and pr~ntcdin Austnlii at 6 Stability 134 'Ihe &minion PNs* Blatkbum, Vicrwir 7 Resettlement 158 Sn in Plnntin by The Dovl Tnx Simp, Mtlhm F=pr in rhe United Srsiea of hricn, 8 Prospect 195 thil bmk ir mld subject m the condihn hi .t 1hd1nu. by way Oi wde or hmue,k mi, re-mld, kirtd wt, or olhcrwlsrclrcr.maa w~rheut Maps the publihu'a pior msmt in my ronn of Smith-East Asia 2 10- 11 bindinf or corn aim hnrlut in whkh ii ia plblimkal nnd withwt n hihr mnditim &settht 212-13 inrludiq chis cdithkine impOBcd m puharqumt purciurcr. Chronology 215 Index 219 Cnnq Bm. The btpeople Ider ISRK 0 I4 U155311 Preface When the first wave of bmt people sailed quietly over the horizon, out of Vitmam, few observers in the western world realized what thw brave and mysterious voyages portended. Since then, as tht refugees have been turning up in more or less reluctant hwt cwntria from Norway to Australia, it has become gradually appar- ent that the hat people are not merely another desperate swmrm of 'displaced persons', but he victims and indicators of a profound regional instability. With the fall of Saigon in 1975, two centuries of western ascendancy in South-East Asia meabruptly to an end. ThereafterI old nationalisms and new ideologies rsselrad them- stlves. Now, the three superpowers - the United Statel, Russia and China - hover uncertainly on thc South-East Asian periphery, their armed forces approaching each other more clogly than anywhere else on earth. The boar people ere a warning to the rest of us that the whole region, during the next phase of its history, is liable to become increasingly a source of unrest, anxiety, and war. A newspaper can report the day-tu-day manifesmeions of an inter- national development on this scale, but in the nature of things cannot explore at length its causes and repercussions. When, therefore, Pen- guin Books approached thc Ap and asked us if wc could produce, rapidly, a book that would investigate a phenomenon that, as every week went by, more and more plainly demanded an explanation, we vcry soon decided, though initially daunted, that we could do it. We asked Bruce Grant, with whom the Age has hod a long association, if he, with his special Asian experience, would m~termindthe bwk. In the Age's South-East Asian correspondent, Michael Richardwn, who had spent seven years in the region, we had a reportcr who com- bined exceptional knowledge and cxtraonlinary stamina; hc has sup- plied the core of the book, and it could not have been written without him. vii The orher contributors were numerous and international. They included Creighton Bums from Washington, Jennifer Byme from Canada, John Ske from Tokyo, John Hoffman from China, Sunanda Daaa-Ray from India, Dcv Murarlra from the Soviet Union, David Mitchell and David Young from New Zealand, Patrick Boyce from London, Christopher Mosey from Sweden, and, in Ausualia, Rebecca Battia and Lindsay Murdoch. The Age Ediio$l note foreign editor, Cameron Forbes, md assistant editor, Tom Duggan, were actively involved. The London Obtmallowed mo members All dollar mounts an in US dollars. of their staff to contribute: Robin Smyth sent a report from France, and Colin Smith sent an account of the fall of higon. Most of us In the case of some refugees inmiewd for this W, who believe learned a grear deal about the subject as we went along. The book there may be repercussions on their relatives, pseudonym8 have been brings together e lot of material that was known but scattered, and wd. a lot besides that was not known of the whole ominous story. MICHAEL DAVIB Editor The Age Melbourne, Oaobcr 1979 viii Introduction In the last four years, more than a million people are known to have left the thrte countries of former Indo-China: Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. About half of these have been Vietnamese and, of them, about half have been 'boat people'. This hkis about the boat people - not because thcy are more important than other refugees, but Muse their dramatic story exemplifies the bitter morn1 and political dilemmas posed by all refugees. Like all refugees, the boat people are testing human reason and conscience. This is especially so mt n time of economic uncertainty in the industrial democracies and frustration in the developing world. We have komc accustomed to people fleeing from one or other of the horsemen of the apocalypse. What is ominous about the boat people is that the forca of politics and history that propelled them into the sea are not likely suddenly to recede because the flow of refugees has been turned off. Their personal crisis reflects a deeper aisis. Like the Balkans before the first world war and the Middle East tuday, the Indo-Chinese statts are involved with the major powers in a contest for prestige, influence and mastery that reverberates far beyond their region. 'he wenticth century has ken marked by revolution, per- secution and war, and its temper shows no sign of mderating. A rccent official estimate is that there are now L3 million refugees in the world, the highest number since the second world war. In 1945 most of the refugees were in Europe; today thcy are in Africa, the Middle Earit, Latin America and Asia. Their numbers are expected to increase. Half of them art children. In the case of the Indo- Chinese refugees, all the eaditional ingredients, including natural disasters, are present, as well as one factor that makes their ordeal particularly significant. The three major powers, the United States, the Soviet Union and China, hover over Vietnam in s statate of unresolved rivalry and potential conflict, The story of the boat Gemany and Vieman mn bt misleading, however. Vietnam is a people cannot be told without taking into account the shifts of power small country and has r long history of conflict with its large neigh- and shaping of new forces in Asia which have followed the emerg- bour China, whose attitude towards Chinese who live outside its ence of an independent united Vietnam, borders has been historically ambiguous. China, now a nuclear A refugee is an unwanted person, He or she make a claim upon power, remains a that to Viemm, and it is understandable, if not the humanity of others without always having much, or even any- excusable, that the Viemamat should both suspect the Chinese in thing somctimcs, to give in return. If, aft- resettlement, a refugee their midst and use them as a political weapon against Peking. The works hard or is lucky and successful, he mmy be accused of taking attitude of Germany to the Jews had no such foundation. tht work or the luck or succas from someone elat. If he fails or The parallel does hold in some tcspects, however, Jews who left becomes resentful or unhappy, he is thought to be ungrateful and Germany in the early 1930s tended to be those with means or inttl- a burden on the community. A refuget is cspccirlly unwmtcd by lemal convictions and being few in number were relatively easy to officials: his papers are rarely in ordet, his health is often suspect; absorb. This was also mrc of Vietnamese refugee been1975 and and sometimes, although he claims to be fleeing from persecution, the middle of 1977, with the exception of the 130 000 who left he is simply wing to get from a poor, overpopulated counuy to a precipitately with the American8 after the fall of Saigon. These were rich, underpopulated onc. Yet it is also tmc that refugees havc con- a special group who in one way or another had come to depend on tributed richly to thcir adopted communities.