Two boats
"Merak" is anchored off the Indonesian port of
Merak and has 255 people on board including "Alex" (see Senator
Fielding Comments below - cannot even get his boats straight in this article
in The Australian).
These people came recently from Sri Lanka. We are trying to get exact
numbers but we believe that over 90% have come out of the camps including
Menik Farm. They are deeply traumatised and fear being returned to camps
if they hand themselves over to the Indonesian government.
Three people from this boat have been hospitalised and five people with
little children have left the boat because of the children.
Last week water was restricted and no medical care given for conjunctivitis
which was sweeping through the boat. Over 30 cases reported on Friday.
The good news is that on Saturday Doctors arrived and provided treatment
and the water restrictions were lifted.
IOM and Indonesian officers are pressuring the people to disembark.
However, after living in camps in Sri Lanka these people are not ready
to commit to camps in Indonesia.
This boat has dropped out of the media gaze. Please watch carefully as
they need us to ensure that their rights are respected.
The people on the boat are calling it the "Merak".
"Oceanic Viking" has 78 people on board. 37 of
these people hold UNHCR refugee cards and most have been in Indonesia
for years waiting for a place to call home.
They are recognised as refugees but this is no guarantee of resettlement.
Refugees have been warehoused in Indonesia since 2001 by first the Howard
and then the Rudd Government.
Eventually people realise that they must help themselves as no-one else
will help them. This is why the boats will continue to come from Indonesia
where there are currently 2,107 people registered with UNHCR who are going
nowhere.
There are 50 people in Christmas island detention centres who hold UNHCR
refugee cards.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,24897,26289589-601,00.html
Senator Fielding said today it was the first he'd heard of the development
but questioned whether the group, whose spokesman is a man called Alex,
really were legitimate asylum-seekers.
“I remember the first phone call we took from, I think Alex, his
English wasn't so good,” he told Network Ten.
“Within two weeks his English is better than mine, so I'm not so
sure how genuine some of these people are.”
NOTE: Alex explained that he had worked in India in a call centre and
had "Accent Training".
Pamela Curr
Campaign Coordinator
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre
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Resettlement from Indonesia to Australia:
2008-2009 — 35 people
2007-2008 — 89 people
2006-2007 — 32 people
Total resettlement 2001 - 2009 was 460 people,
an average of 50 per year.
You do not need to be a mathematical genius to
work out the odds of resettlement.
Life in Indonesia means no work, no school even
for primary school children, and no future.
People are fed, watered and sheltered by IOM at
Australia's expense.
However, people are not cattle and need more in
life than this which is why they take matters into their own hands.
Wouldn't we?
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