By Alok Bhatt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia
WEST JAVA, Indonesia – Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, recently made a personal plea to Indonesian migration authorities to capture any asylum seekers headed towards Australian shores. Following this request, Indonesian authorities intercepted a boat carrying over 260 Sri Lankan Tamil ethnic minorities en route to Australia. The Indonesian vessel captured the Sri Lankan boat and escorted it to a West Java dock.
Photo courtesy of AFP
The Tamils, however, refused to leave the boat and began a hunger-strike which effectively ceased after the weekend.
The Tamils were apparently so afraid of prosecution in Indonesian lands that they made empty threats to ignite or detonate their boat. Alex, the unofficial spokesperson for the Tamils, however, confirmed that the Tamil boat did not actually carry any explosives. Despite the threats, Indonesian authorities captured the Tamils’ boat. The International Organization for Migration provided basic necessities to the Tamils during their stay in the Indonesian dock.
Rather than go home to Sri Lanka, the Tamils desire to reach the Australian territory of Christmas Island. Located south of Indonesian territories, Christmas Island has been a popular sanctuary destination for nationals of war-ridden countries such as Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The influx of asylum seekers into the area has reached thousands of refugees per year.
The Tamils left their homes in Sri Lanka to escape social and quasi-sanctioned persecution. Intense tensions between Tamils and the Sinhalese ethnic majority escalated after the Sri Lankan government’s upheaval of the Tamil Tiger rebel group. Tamil militants have been fighting desperately for a separate state for over 25 years. However, with the recent defeat of the sole Tamil fighting force, the Tamil minority essentially lost its power to assert independence, and many Sri Lankan Tamil nationals took flight to avoid the discrimination.
Many Tamils were captured by Sri Lankan military personnel or law enforcement, then subsequently maimed and tortured. Alex has related that many of the people on the boat suffer from burns and severed limbs. The women and children among the group of over 260 Tamils have suffered from displacement and loss of family. On these humanitarian grounds, they sought asylum in Australian territory.
However, Kevin Rudd remains unmoved and obstinate. According to the prime minister’s own statements, he refuses to support the people-smuggling that has been infiltrating Indonesian and Australian territories. However, the people-smuggling was to ensure a safe escape for Tamil refugees who would have otherwise been persecuted by the Sri Lankan government.
The fate of the occupants of the captured ship in Indonesia remains to be decided.
For more information, please see:
The Age – Asylum boat had holes drilled in hull – 22 October 2009
Al-Jazeera – Sri Lankan hunger strike fails – 18 October 2009
BBC News – Australian PM seeking migrant help – 13 October 2009
