Sri Lankan official warns Australia not to let Tamils in

Update November 5th:  If you object to letting in the boat people you are “xenophobic” so says Australian immigration activist Julian Burnside, here.

The headline to this story is all about a fear that the Australian government might put “chillis” in the food of illegal aliens (aka asylum seekers) occupying an Australian ship in a standoff now 3 weeks old.   Titled, ”Chilli weapon ruled out in asylum seeker boat standoff,”  I thought the story should more appropriately be titled as I have it above.   Incidentally I came across this story after reporting on the “boat people” that Indonesia is sick of,  here.

CHILLIS and water rationing will not be used to force 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers off an Australian Customs ship stuck in a standoff in Indonesia.

Officials denied they would tamper with the asylum seekers’ food to help break their resolve, despite claims by refugee advocates the chilli solution had been used before.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Australia was prepared to play a waiting game as the saga entered its 12th day.

The Oceanic Viking remains anchored 10 nautical miles off Indonesia’s Bintan Island as the Federal Government attempts to navigate around a diplomatic stumble that saw local officials refusing to allow the Sri Lankans to land, and a vow by the asylum seekers to remain on the ship.

Many have started a hunger strike.

Mr Rudd has not ruled out using force to get them off the ship, but suggested the patience of Indonesia and Australia would win out.

“Indonesia has an abundance of patience in handling these matters. Australia also has great patience in handling these complex matters,” he told Parliament.

Mr Rudd also ruled out cash incentives to persuade the Sri Lankans to end their protest and disembark.

In my view the above is your typical leftwing reporting.  The charge that the government would fool with the food of the illegal aliens puts the government on the defensive right off the bat making the illegals more sympathetic characters.  In the meantime, the part of this story that should have been highlighted is that a high level Sri Lankan official is telling the Australian government not to set a precedent, let these Tamils in and possibly open a floodgate to more.  He also says they pose a threat to Australia.   The UK and the US have both designated the Tamil Tigers a terrorist group, although it isn’t clear from this report whether it has been confirmed that Tamil Tigers are on board.

With no end in sight to the standoff, the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Australia warned the group represented a security threat.

“They pose a threat to peace and security of Australia,” Mr Senaka Walgampaya said.

There are more than 250,000 people in camps in Sri Lanka as a result of a 20-year civil war that ended this year.

Mr Walgampaya rejects claims Tamils in Sri Lanka are being persecuted.

I first mentioned this story here, but I had no idea this has been going on for 3 weeks.

Wasn’t it only a few days ago that I reported that the EU wanted to emulate Australian immigration policies and practices, here.

Indonesia: We’ve had it with all these asylum seekers

The Indonesian government is making it very clear they cannot afford to keep all the illegal aliens (aka asylum seekers) landing on their shores or being apprehended in their waters.   They want the UN and Australia to do something about it. 

Meanwhile, remember all those Muslim Rohingya boatmen that brought worldwide attention when the Thai government was accused of towing their boats back to sea, those who landed in Indonesia have been given refugee status by the UNHCR and are ready for resettlement in the West.

From the Jakarta Post:

The government said Thursday it would demand a time line of how long the 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers, on board an Australian vessel in Riau province, would stay in Indonesia once their statuses have been finalized.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said Indonesia could not afford to let the boat people, who wish to go to Australia, stay in its territory for an indefinite period of time, as has been the case in the past.

“What would we do to them if they are not classified as refugees? And what would we do if they are? This has to be clear.”

Indonesia is struggling to cope with the rising number of illegal immigrants intercepted in its waters while making the perilous journey to its more prosperous southern neighbor.

The 78 Sri Lankans are only one group of people currently seeking asylum in Australia.

Another 255 Sri Lankans are refusing to get off a wooden boat at Merak Port, Banten, and their status remains unclear.

Reports in Australia have cited 66 incidents of interception in Indonesian waters this year, resulting in arrests of 1,642 illegal immigrants bound for Australia.

Many have become stateless, living in immigration detention facilities or shelters run by the UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Hundreds of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar who were found adrift off the coast of Aceh early this year were granted refugee status by the UNHCR, but have not yet been sent to any third countries willing to accept them. Dozens have reportedly escaped from their facilities.

Sounds like a few have other motives than a chance at a good life in the West.

By the way, Indonesia is a Muslim country.  I thought the UN High Commissioner for Refugees told us that Muslims welcome the stranger!

LOL! Europe wishes to emulate Australian immigration policy

Oh my gosh, where has this author been?  Hasn’t he (or those European leaders) been reading the Australian press lately about all the controversy over immigration policy, Muslims, terrorist arrests, boat people and so forth downunder.   Dear Mr. Becks, just check out our Australia category here.

According to European polls and many EU officials, the issue of uncontrolled Muslim immigration into Europe has been a policy maker’s disaster. It is a controversial if patriotic standpoint but one which could benefit from the study of how Australia handles the question.

Australia is held in high regard by many European lawmakers for the apparent success and sustainability of its immigration policy.

The most admired principles are those that see Australia effectively select its immigrants, based on family and government cohesion, skill levels and that there is, in general, public support for the policy.

Australia has had well documented instances of ‘boat people’ arriving from Asia but the numbers are miniscule when compared to the migrant levels seen across Europe. Australia has maintained a consistent approach to protecting its borders which is something which most European countries aspire to but ongoing conflict about a common policy agreement has made the task all the more difficult. Muslim immigration continues to polarise public opinion in most European theatres.

Read on.

Australia might not be as bad as Europe yet, but someone is in dreamland if they think Australia has a solution to the Muslim immigration problem!

Emerging Infectious Diseases: a useful site at the CDC

The Centers for Disease Control has an interesting section entitled ‘Emerging Infectious Diseases’ that you might find a useful resource.    I came across it just now and note this recent article and study about the health of Burmese refugees arriving in Australia.

As we consider the cost of health care in America, the health of refugees should be considered.

We have a category here at RRW called ‘where to find information’ and I’ll post this link there for your future reference.  I found that one need only use the sites search function for “refugees”  (presumably the search could be narrowed to specific refugee groups) to find all sorts of interesting studies on refugee health issues.

Canadian Tamil ship has impact on similar ship in Australian waters

Another shipload of Tamil would-be “asylum-seekers” is being forced to stay at sea off Australia as politicians haggle.   The ultimate question, are there people with terror ties on board?   From World News Australia:

A group of 78 asylum seekers rescued by the Australian Navy face another three days at sea after Indonesian authorities turned them away from their destination.

[.....]

Outspoken MP Wilson Tuckey provoked the ire of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Thursday by suggesting that terrorists could be hiding among groups of asylum seekers trying to reach Australia.

Mr Rudd called on Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull to withdraw his support for the veteran Liberal, in the wake of his “disgusting” comments.

But Mr Turnbull refused, and on Friday Mr Tuckey accused the Prime Minister of being “a bully” for trying to get him dumped from parliament.

Adding to the confusion, it has emerged that one of 76 migrants arrested on a rusted ship off Canada last week is wanted in Sri Lanka on terror charges – apparently adding weight to Mr Tuckey’s claim.

The 26-year-old man, whose identity was withheld due to a court-ordered publication ban, is being sought by Sri Lankan authorities who issued an Interpol notice for an unspecified terror offence.

For background, see my previous post, here, on the Tamil “refugee” ship in Vancouver.

Afghans involved in boat explosion incident will get refugee status in Australia

This is an update to a story we told you about here in April.   Afghanis, with the help of people smugglers, were trying to reach Australia.  When the boat was apprehended an explosian occurred killing five.   The others have now been granted refugee status in Australia.

A group of Afghan asylum seekers who survived an explosion that killed five people in the Timor Sea are to be granted refugee status in Australia. The government, however, has signaled it will deport anyone convicted of causing the explosion, which investigators suspect was sabotage.

In April, a boat carrying 47 Afghan asylum seekers was rocked by an explosion that killed five men and injured almost everyone else on board.

The Australian navy, which found the vessel about 600 kilometers off Australia’s northwest coast, was escorting it when the blast occurred.
Earlier this month, police said that passengers had deliberately started a fire after the boat was intercepted. Despite suspicions of sabotage, senior officers ruled there was insufficient evidence to charge anyone with a crime.

Two Indonesian crewmen, however, have been accused of people smuggling.

Immigration officials have assessed the asylum applications of the surviving passengers and have granted them refugee status.

Anyone found guilty of causing the explosion could still be deported, but the others will now receive the full benefits of refugee status.

Refugee advocates say the men would have faced human rights abuses had they been forced to return to Afghanistan. However, if any are eventually convicted of causing the explosion Australian officials have indicated they would be deported.

Twenty of the men are being held in immigration detention in Brisbane, while the rest are incarcerated in the western Australian city of Perth. They are expected to be released later this week with residency visas and will be re-settled with help from the federal government.

Critics say that Australia’s lenient policies under the Rudd government will just encourage more illegal attempts to reach Australia.

Conservative politicians in Australia accuse Prime Minister Kevin Rudd of being soft on illegal immigration because he ended mandatory detention for asylum seekers who enter the country illegally. He also changed the rules so that those found to be genuine refugees could receive permanent, instead of temporary, visas.

Several people-smuggling boats have been intercepted this year in Australian waters. Authorities predict that unrest in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will force thousands of people to seek refuge in Western countries, including Australia.

Canberra resettles about 13,000 refugees under official humanitarian programs each year.

The US takes close to 80,000, the lion’s share, of the world’s refugees.

Australia: Bhutanese refugee woman found dead, hanged

Who knows what was going on in this poor woman’s life.  One report I saw mentioned possible suicide.  The story reminded me of another story I heard about a Bhutanese woman right here in the US.   Here is the whole short article from Adelaide where the cause of death is still under investigation:

Adelaide,October 7: Mon Maya Ghimirey,29, a Bhutanese refugee resettled in Adelaide in Australia was found dead today afternoon in Marion .She was spotted hanging in the garage of her tenant house at around 4.30 pm local time when her children had gone for outing.

Ghimirey was resettled from Sanischarey Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal on March,2009 .

She is survived by two under-aged children of her own and two step children.The cause of her death is not yet known.

This is the story that was relayed to me, and the question my friend asked:   This friend had an occasion to be in the apartment of a recently resettled Bhutanese refugee in a major US city.  The apartment was in the worst neighborhood in the city and the woman, alone it seemed, was fearful of setting foot outside.   It was discovered she wasn’t alone but was living with a girl (hiding in a closet) perhaps in her late teens who appeared to be mentally impaired.  My friend asked, what sort of life does this woman have?  Would she not have been better off in the UN run camp where she had lived for nearly two decades among her own people and her own culture?   What would America be able to do for her?

Reforms needed!

I raise this because I want readers to at least consider for a moment that willy-nilly hauling people to the US (or any westernized country) may sometimes not be the best thing for the refugee.  And, I propose that the US State Department set up a return program where after a certain time to adjust any refugees wishing to be returned (as the Iraqis have been doing recently) to their original location be provided airfare to do so.   Some of that airfare cost should be picked up by the volag that resettled the refugee in the first place.

Recently I wrote about the good and bad resettlement story from the Bronx and just now went to check Journalism in Exile to see if he had more on the woman in Australia.  Nothing so far on Australia, but in his latest post he does report that the NYPD has made a concerted effort to protect the 170 or so Bhutanese refugees living in one building in the Bronx.

A large number of new immigrants (like we Bhutanese refugees in Bronx, NY) dwelling in the same building could sometimes turn out to be a point of attraction for those involved in taking best-advantage of their innocence and struggle during their initial days. Visits of police authority officials, no doubt, will discourage those elements from attempting to fraud/attack or sometimes daring to occur even unexpected crimes on new immigrants. Thanks to NYPD for your visit in our building.

In July we told you about a promising young Bhutanese man being murdered in the parking lot of his apartment building in Jacksonville, here.

The US plans to resettle 60,000 Bhutanese (really Nepalese) from camps in Nepal over 5 years.

Australian media calls it the “stay the bloody hell away” campaign

We have reported on many previous occasions (see our category on Australia, here) about the problems that country is having with asylum seekers attempting to reach the shores of Australia with the help of human traffickers.  Now comes word, that the Rudd government considered friendly to refugees, or more so than the Howard government was, has a media campaign to discourage potential asylum seekers from Sri Lanka.

From Australia’s 9News:

The Rudd government has employed advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi to help scare off potential asylum seekers to Australia.

The taxpayer-funded campaign will be shown in Sri Lanka, where street theatre and local actors will help spread the message that coming to Australia illegally is dangerous, according to news.com.au.

Civil war in northern Sri Lanka has created a massive refugee problem, with more than 250,000 displaced persons in that region alone.

Saatchi & Saatchi’s Ronald Peiris said the campaign would use “street drama” to take its message directly to the people.

Actors will play people smugglers, and warn locals their efforts to escape from Sri Lanka will end in disappointment.

All I can say is it’s a novel approach.

Muslim Brotherhood member seeking asylum in Australia

If asylum is granted to a man who claims he will be persecuted in his home country of Egypt for being a member of the Muslim Brotherhood—considered a terrorist group in many countries including Egypt—one would have to conclude that Australia has reached the beginning of the end.

From Australian Jewish News:

SHADOW Minister for Immigration Sharman Stone has asked immigration officials to reconsider their recommendation that an Egyptian with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood be allowed entry to Australia.

The Refugee Review Tribunal recommended a protection visa for the man – described as an “active supporter” of the radical Islamic group, Muslim Brotherhood – after he successfully argued he would face persecution for his political beliefs if forced to return to Egypt.

The group, which has called for the destruction of Israel, is banned in several countries, including Egypt. Other splinter members of the group include Hamas in Gaza and the Islamic Action Front in Jordan.

The group, however, is not listed as a terrorist organisation by the Australian governent.

Don’t you just see a flood of asylum applicants from radical Islamists wanting to get into Australia if they open this door?

Shadow Immigration Minister Dr Sharman Stone said she has written to Immigration Minister Senator Chris Evans asking for the decision to be overturned.

“This person should be sent home to Egypt,” she said. “Here we have a situation where an individual is using his membership of the Muslim Brotherhood to seek asylum. The tribunal found there was no evidence of him ever having being threatened or harmed in Egypt, yet he is using his membership of the group to claim asylum and hence permanent residency in Australia.”

Jeremy Jones, director of international affairs with the Australia-Israel Jewish Affairs Council, had this to say:

“The Muslim Brotherhood has many different manifestations in many different countries, but overall it’s been banned in many countries for many sound reasons. They’re dedicated to replacing existing regimes with theirs. You would not think that Australia would want to be a haven for people advocating extremist political doctrine which, in this case, is masquerading as a religious doctrine.”

Of course we already have the Muslim Brotherhood active in the US as this 2004 Chicago Tribune investigation tells us.

Iraqis protest : We demand to go to Australia!

Here is the whole short article from the Jakarta Post.  Thirty Iraqis say they have lousy conditions in Indonesia and hear their friends have it great in Australia. 

A group of Iraqi refugees being held in Makassar staged a rally Saturday to demand they immediately be sent to Australia.

The rally was held at the representative office of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) – United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) in the South-Sulawesi capital.

The refugees claim they have been living in poor conditions ever since their arrival in Indonesia earlier this year. The IOM has provided housing for them, but the refugees refused the offer because one house must be shared by seven people.

“Ever since we arrived here we have received poor treatment. Therefore we ask the IOM-UNHCR to send us to Australia,” one of the refugees, Ali Nazim Abdul, said in Indonesian.

He said two of his fellow refugees had fallen ill due to a lack of treatment.

“We want to leave for Australia as soon as possible. Three of our friends who have reached Australia told us they enjoyed decent treatment as refugees,” he said.

Thirty Iraqi refugees were relocated to Makassar after being stranded in Dompu in West Nusa Tenggara. They left Iraq to flee the war and seek asylum in Australia.

An IOM staff member declined to comment on the protest, but said the two international organizations were taking care of the Iraqis.

Keep in mind these Iraqis arrived as illegal aliens in Indonesia.  Legitimate asylum seekers are to ask for asylum in the first country in which they land.