NOTE:
This LINK takes you to a video clip on this issue:
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2011/s3313639.htm
TONY JONES, PRESENTER: Asylum seekers in Indonesia say the Federal Government's plans to revive offshore processing won't stop them taking boats to Australia. And Lateline understands a new boatload of people has been marshalled in the port of Makassar on Sulawesi.While the policy debate rages in Australia, the smugglers and their clients are undeterred.Indonesia correspondent Matt Brown reports from Makassar.
MATT BROWN, REPORTER: Makassar is a bustling port on the south-west tip of the sprawling island of Sulawesi. Its docks host sailors, fishermen and others doing dodgy deals.Makassar is a hub for people smugglers and their clients and events here highlight the Gillard Government's quandary.The asylum seekers in Makassar's immigration detention centre are pleased the so-called Malaysia Solution is in tatters.
MOHAMMAD NASIR ASHMADI, HAZARA ASYLUM SEEKER: I am very happy that still they're - in Australia there are a lot of people that are still - they are you can say generous people, they are trying to help the humanity.
MATT BROWN: Mohammad Nasir Ahmadi said he fled extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan, but was detained en route to Australia in a boat just off Bali six months ago. Would you try to go again by boat to Australia?
MOHAMMAD NASIR ASHMADI: Yeah. Especially, yeah, because we cannot live here in Indonesia. We are asylum seekers, we are living here illegally. We are coming to go to Australia, not coming to stay in Indonesia detention centres in bad conditions.
MATT BROWN: While the Gillard Government's been talking tough and still wants an offshore processing regime, its repeated failure to achieve one has undermined its credibility.
MOHAMMAD NASIR ASHMADI: I don't think that Australian Government, Australian policy could be like this, that they will send us to the other third countries.
MATT BROWN: These men make no apologies for paying smugglers to bypass years of waiting for the United Nations to find them a safe place to live and they question the morality of trying to deter them from getting to Australia any way they can.
MOHAMMAD NASIR ASHMADI: They must try to provide protection for us, not reject us. They can reject smugglers. They cannot reject asylum seekers.
MATT BROWN: The Immigration Department warns around 600 people a month will take to the boats if the Government can't get offshore processing up and running. But most here argue the Taliban are more frightening than the Gillard Government's plans. One of them, named Assadulah, ignored threats he'd be sent to Malaysia and was on his way to a boat when he was detained at Makassar Airport just two weeks ago.Do you think that the Government will send you away if you go by boat?
ASSADULAH, AFGHAN ASYLUM SEEKER: I can't say anything. Maybe not, sir. Maybe not.
MATT BROWN: You'll still try?
ASSADULAH: I will still try, sir. I will try.
MATT BROWN: Right now, the only thing preventing more boats from heading to Australia is the Indonesian police. With the help of their Australian counterparts, they've arrested several high-level smugglers this year, but the networks remain active.
BRIGADIER SUPARNO, WATER POLICE (voiceover translation): That's what humans are like. While we can look for them, they can also see us, and we can't see them because they can hide.
MATT BROWN: Lateline understands that since the High Court's ruling last week, more would-be passengers have been sent to Makassar, ready for the next boat to Australia. A source familiar with the venture says it was organised by a smuggler named Zamin Ali, alias Haji Sakhi, who's on Australia's extradition list.
JAMILAH NOMPO, PEOPLE SMUGGLING TASK FORCE (voiceover translation): Haji Sakhi is an Afghan who's been residing in Indonesia for a long time. He's a smuggler. He lives in Jakarta and he has a syndicate in Makassar.
MATT BROWN: The smuggler's been able to arrange the voyage despite the fact that he's in jail on previous smuggling charges. The anti-people smuggling effort is undermined at every turn by corrupt Indonesian officials. These police documents show last year, 19 asylum seekers were detained in the home of a local Army officer who'd organised the boat they were to travel on. But the Indonesian police don't even know if he's been punished.Most Indonesian officials believe Australia will only stop the boats if it bars entry to every person who arrives on one.
2. BEHIND the NEWS
Video Clip:
http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s2551598.htm
Over the past couple of weeks you might have heard a lot about asylum seekers - they've been in the headlines almost every day. It's a strange sounding name but they're a group of people at the centre of one of the most emotional debates in Australian politics. So who are asylum seekers and why do people argue about them so much? Here's Sarah to explain.
SARAH LARSEN, REPORTER: Can you imagine travelling overseas in a boat like this? You'd have to leave your home and all your stuff behind and spend days even weeks with not much food or water. Then there's the risk of sinking or getting attacked by pirates.
REPORTER: It's an extremely dangerous journey but some people pay thousands of dollars to do it just for the chance to get to Australia. Why?
Turn on your telly at night and you'll see there are lots of terrible things happening in the world. People are sometimes attacked because people don't like their race or their religion or their political views. For many, the only way to survive is to leave their country and become a refugee. There are international laws which protect refugees. They say countries have a responsibility to look after these people if their life is in danger. Many end up in refugee camps like this some try to come to Australia.
REPORTER: Every year the government lets a certain number of refugees come to Australia ..but they have to prove they're true refugees. The people who want to become refugees are called asylum seekers.
The word asylum means a safe place and that's what these people say they're looking for. Most asylum seekers get permission to come to Australia as refugees before they arrive but some come first and apply when they get here. That's what these guys are doing. They don't have permission to be here but they're not here illegally because under international law anyone has the right to ask to be treated as a refugee.
Even so the government catches them and interviews them. If it decides an asylum seeker is not a genuine refugee, they can be sent home. It's the way they're arriving that been causing a lot of controversy. A few weeks ago there was an explosion on a boat carrying asylum seekers into Australia. Five people were killed and many more were injured.
In the past there have been terrible accidents where asylum seekers on rickety boats have drowned. A big worry is, people are making money by selling tickets on unsafe boats and sneaking people into Australia. That's called people smuggling, and it's illegal
KEVIN RUDD, PRIME MINISTER: People smugglers are the vilest form of human life. They trade on the tragedy of others and that's why they should rot in jail and in my view, rot in hell.
Most pollies agree they want to stop people smuggling but they disagree how to do it. But with the economic crisis and lots of wars at the moment there are warnings there could be even more people prepared to risk their lives to come to Australia.
No comments:
Post a Comment