The Government of Hong Kong declared that there was no suicide on April 30th. However, based on the letters from the refugees, we could see that some people in fact did attempt suicide, one, by setting fire to himself on May 2. This person was later interviewed by outsider journalists and this important conversation was recorded.

Story Revealed By A Vietnamese Refugee Representative In Hong Kong

Narrated by the refugee leader of Camp 4

Recorded by our editor
(Originally in Au Lac Language)

These informations are rare and precious. For justice, these refugees risked their lives to reveal these facts. Please treasure them and spread to the world.
Recently, a former refugee, representative of Camp 4 in the Whitehead Detention Center, told us privately; some terrifying confidential information. According to him, three or four days before the Government's violent assault on the Whitehead Camp on April 7, the camp supervisors of Camps 3 and 4, and the police chief suddenly summoned the refugee representatives of Camps 3 and 4, and the leaders of the hunger strike. They were told that the refugees in Camp 7 were not cooperative, and have committed five offenses:

Refugee representatives of Camp 7 forced the refugees to join the hunger strike.
Refugees of Camp 7 dismantled the barbed wire on the fence without permission and put it around their barracks to obstruct the police from entering.
The camp supervisor of Camp 7 was assaulted by the refugees by throwing stones at him.(* How do people find stone in such closed concreted camps?)
The Camp 7 people have stocked and prepared weapons to fight against the police.
The refugees of Camp 7 are not cooperating with the police, so the police are going to punish them. This refugee leader of Camp 4 requested to talk with the refugees representative of Camp 7 to improve the relationship between both sides. However, he was refused by the camp supervisor and the police chief. He never imagined that the police would punish them with so much violence. April 7 was a nightmare for the Vietnamese refugees.
That morning, right from when the police charged into Camp 7, this Camp 4 refugee leader observed everything clearly from the roof. He said he can testify against the brutality of the Hong Kong Government that day. The police were beating not only the men, even women and children were kicked in the abdomen and beaten up terribly. He personally saw a police tear off the blanket the women used to keep out the tear gas smoke, and then threw in a tear gas shell. Many people were severely burnt. A certain Mr. Dang Ngoc Thang set fire to himself protesting against the inhuman treatment by the Hong Kong Government. But the flame was put out by the police, and after that he was sent to jail, instead of to the hospital for treatment.
At the same time, the police tried to arrest the hunger strike leader of Camp 7, and forbid him to relocate to High Island (Man Yee) Refugee Camp. A refugee exchanged identification cards with him, and escorted him to the car. Although he made it to the Man Yee Camp, the police eventually arrested him, and sent him back to Whitehead. They confined him to prison of Camp 4. Three days later, he was transferred to the prison in Chi Ma Wan Detention Center until now.
The police action didn't stop there. On April 9 at 3:20 in the morning, the police suddenly charged into Camps 3 and 4. They started a fire, and then put it out themselves. However, they put the blame on the refugees in the camp. They even informed and forewarned all the police officers, UNHCR staff and camp employees to leave, because a riot would break out in Camps 3 and 4. The police even deliberately let the TV station broadcast what had happened. On the 7:00a.m. news, a TV station broadcasted this news. The news announcer said, "The refugees in Whitehead Camp set off a fire." Their evil ways of harming and incriminating are truly frightening. At that time, the police summoned this refugee leader, ordered him to pull down all the banners and posters on the hunger strike and SOS inside the camp. The police warned him that the hunger strikes and protests were against the law. On the morning of April 29, the Supreme Master Ching Hai and thousands of representatives from all countries conducted a peaceful sit-in outside the Whitehead Camp. The police deliberately concealed the news, so the refugees didn't even have the chance to talk to them outside of the fence. Only some refugees in Camps 9 and 10 who volunteered to be repatriated could receive the love and kind intentions of the world, because their camps were on the perimeter. Later, the refugees were allowed to watch it on the TV. They were very touched and grateful, because some people finally reached out their helping hands of justice. Therefore, the refugees who wished to commit suicide in radical ways were comforted by humanity. Their desperate mood was pacified. They switched to peaceful ways of protesting, hunger strikes and sit-ins. From May 1 to May 3, first in Camp 4 alone, there were 666 persons on a hunger strike. There were even more participants in other camps. However, the conditions for joining the hunger strike was very strict. Adults under eighteen and pregnant women were forbidden. Participation was purely voluntary, absolutely no compulsory cases.
On May 2, a refugee 47172 in Whitehead Camp 3, Doan Van Hai, refugee I.D. No.255189, trying to rouse the world's continued concern for this most distressful situation of the Vietnamese refugees, resorted to suicide in exchange for the humanitarian support of his compatriots from the free world. He had already set himself ablaze. When the fire was burning his feet, the police were notified by an informer, and they hastily put out the fire with water. They tried to arrest and jail him, but the refugees in the camp surrounded and ushered him to the roof. The police still tried to arrest him, so this refugee shouted loudly, "Force me further and I will jump down to kill myself!" The UNHCR people panicked, and quickly talked to him to calm him down. They assured him that his refugee status would be reassessed, thus coaxed him to come down. Fearing the news might leak out, they did not yet send him to the hospital for treatment until now. The following was our conversation with a refugee who burnt himself on May 2nd. It was recorded when we visited him at the Whitehead Camp on May 14, 1994.
(Original in Au Lac Language)
Q. When did you burn yourself?
A. On May 2.
Q. Why did you burn yourself?
A. It is because I am discontented with the oppressive policies toward the boat people by the UNHCR, the Government's armed suppression of women and children during the camp relocation on April 7, and the force of us back to Vietnam.
Q. Apart from your limbs, are there any other parts of your body that are burnt?
A. My limbs, and my whole body are burnt.
Q. Have you sent any petition for freedom to any establishments? A. I have sent a petition for freedom to the UNHCR.
Q. Where did you get the fuel to burn yourself? A. Fuel can be found easily.
Q. At present, how many people still want to commit suicide or insist on hunger strike?
A. There are still fifty to eighty persons on hunger strike since April 30 to now (May 10). Some of them are in serious condition. Most of them are very weak. Some even fainted. Some cut their wrists or abdomen to commit suicide. To my knowledge, there are more than five hundred participants. All the boat people will join the hunger strike to protest.
Q. Did you requested the camp authorities to send you to the hospital for treatment?
A. We have requested to go to the hospital, and to meet reporters in order to express the intention and purpose of our hunger strike and suicide protests. I also want to let all the people in the world caring for human rights and the refugees, know our situation, and how they could help us if possible. However they just put us into a small room in the camp for treatment.
Q. Do you advocate self-incineration?
A. I am also against it. I did it only for the sake of the future freedom of all the miserable compatriots, and forced by the situation.
Besides, all of us boat people have a request. We wish the Supreme Master Ching Hai would come to our refugee camp, to console us spiritually. We will also apply to the camp authorities wishing that the Supreme Master Ching Hai will be able to enter the camp soon.
Q. Among your compatriots, are there some trying to stop the suicide attempts of your group?
A. Some compatriots have persuaded me, cared for me and loved me. However, for everyone's freedom, and the human rights of the world, I sacrificed myself.
Q. Who put out the fire?
A. A security staff inside the camp, he put out the fire with an extinguisher.
Q. Are you a political refugee?
A. I am! I had joined the anti-communist activities for twelve years long, and I had been imprisoned many times.
Q. Would you try to burn yourself again? A. I will! I will struggle to the end for the human rights and future liberty of our compatriots.
Q. Is there anything else that you want the reporter to publish? A. I cannot go into details as the time is short. Should I manage to survive, I will tell more to the reporters.