HONG KONG: DYING MAN'S FAMILY FIGHTS EVICTION

A housewife is trying to prevent her family of six being evicted after her
dying husband was convicted of possessing opium, which he used to ease the
pain of cancer. Thai Muoi yesterday filed a judicial review application
seeking to quash the Housing Authority decision made in April which she
described as unlawful.

She claimed it was wrong for the authority to terminate the tenancy
agreement because she did not know her husband, Ho Lam, kept opium in their
Choi Hung flat.

The mother of four said in the application that even if she had known, she
had no power to evict her husband and she had no duty to report the matter,
bearing in mind he was suffering from a "rather advanced stage" of stomach
cancer.

In the application filed at the High Court, the 52-year-old housewife said
her family had leased the flat in Kai Ning House, Kai Yip Estate, since
March 1982.

The couple are unemployed and their eldest daughter, who works as a nurse
earning about $20,000 a month, supports the family.

Three other children are at school.

The application said Mr Ho, 60, was arrested at the Lowu checkpoint on July
22, 1997, after two packets of raw opium were found in his travelling bag.

A search was conducted at his flat, where two other packets of raw opium
were found in a jacket.

Mr Ho was convicted of two charges of possession of dangerous drugs in
November 1997 and sent to a treatment centre.

A notice to terminate their lease was issued by the authority on April 30
this year on the grounds that Mr Ho had violated the agreement by using the
premises for "illegal purpose".

An appeal to overturn the decision was launched by the family but was
dismissed by the Appeal Tribunal in August. The authority told the tribunal
the family's eviction reflected its determination to support the fight
against drug trafficking.

The application said it was unreasonable to order the whole family to be
evicted for a crime they were not responsible for.

"It is also unreasonable to punish Mr Ho twice by terminating the
applicant's agreement," it said.

Mrs Ho argued both the authority and the tribunal had failed to consider
the family's plight.

Outside court, Mrs Ho said the family was worried about the future as well
as her husband's health: "We do not know what to do now. Maybe eventually
we will be forced to sleep on the street because we could not afford to pay
rent for other flats."