Following the end of the Vietnam war in 1975, thousands of people fled from the victorious communist forces by sailing to neighbouring countries. When these “boat people” attempted to land in Singapore, the police pushed them back out to sea, where many died.
In 1978 the Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, who has died aged 95, went to Singapore for a conference on religion and peace. By working with fishermen he helped get provisions to those at sea and smuggle some refugees ashore; he then took them to the French embassy compound so that the next morning they could surrender to the police and enter the official arrival system.
