January 24-2014
Australia has for the first time used one of its new lifeboats to force a group of 56 asylum seekers, including some Iranians, back to Indonesia, thus foiling an effort to get to Australia by sinking their refugee boat when Australian navy forces arrived.
Australia’s Fairfax Media interviewed some of the would-be refugees who scuttled their wooden vessel last week in an attempt to avoid being pushed back to Indonesia, as the Australian Navy has been doing in recent weeks.
The Australian Navy vessel, HMAS Stuart, did indeed rescue them. But they say they were tricked into thinking they were going to be taken to Australia’s Christmas Island while actually being put on a small, bright orange lifeboat-style vessel close to the Indonesian shore, with only enough fuel to return to Indonesia.
The news came as Fairfax Media confirmed that Australia escorted another boat back to Indonesia December 26, bringing to five the total number of confirmed instances of turn-backs, despite Indonesia’s vocal objections to the practice.
Pakistani asylum seeker Fazal Qadir, 28, told Fairfax Media he had set sail from an island off Java January 5 bound for Christmas Island with 56 people from Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq and Palestine on board, along with an Indonesian captain and one crew member.
After three or four days at sea, he said the group was spotted by an Australian airplane. Their boat was already leaking. “We were very happy [when we saw them] because we thought when the boat went into the water, then they must receive us,” Qadir said.
All the people on board already knew of other vessels that had been returned to Indonesia, so were determined to be rescued rather than escorted back. One passenger took a piece of wood and pried open a hole in the hull. Others rocked the boat to make it take on seawater.
When it foundered, two Australian speedboats reached them and the 12 navy personnel on board told the asylum seekers to cling to the side, Qadir said.
About 20 minutes later, two Australian Navy vessels, numbered 153 (HMAS Stuart) and 88 (HMAS Maitland) came into view. (HMAS stands for Her Majesty’s Australian Ship.)
Qadir said the group was loaded onto the Stuart and told they would be taken to Christmas Island, which is Australian territory although it is almost 1,000 miles from Australia proper. But the ship did not dock at the island. “We were going around Christmas all the time. For two days we were in the navy ship,” Qadir said.
The group was photographed and interviewed by navy personnel. They gave their names and were provided with white, numbered wristbands.
On the second day they were transferred to a Customs and Border Protection boat that they could not identify. “We could see Christmas [Island],” the men said.
For three days they remained on the Customs boat. During this time the men were desperate to call their families to tell them they were all right. “We wanted to call our home because our families were scared their children were dead, but the navy and Customs would not give us a phone. They said we could call when we reached Christmas Island, but they lied to us.”
Finally, the men say, they were tricked once more. Qadir said a small orange boat with a weather canopy was tied to the back of the Customs ship. They were told to board it because it would ferry them to Christmas Island.
At the last minute, though, a Customs officer came on board, tossed the asylum seekers a four-page document in a dozen languages, and returned to the large ship, which sailed away.
The document, dated December 2013, reads: “You only have enough fuel to reach land in Indonesia. You do not have enough fuel to continue your voyage to Australia. The master of your vessel is now responsible for your safety. You must co-operate with the master and not act in a manner that risks your safety. You are responsible for your own actions. Your vessel is not equipped for a voyage to Australia. It is not safe to continue your voyage to Australia. If you continue on your journey, the master and crew of your boat will face harsh penalties, which may include a jail term.”
The master was the Indonesian captain who had brought them from Java. They showed the compasses, GPS system and satellite phone that were provided with the orange boat.
The men said they were dropped very close to Indonesia. It took only three hours to reach shore.
They and the captain abandoned the Australian boat and walked into the jungle. They said they walked for five hours, including crossing a flood-swollen river, before finding help.
Last Wednesday, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa described the lifeboat option as “a slippery slope.”
“It’s one thing to turn back the actual boats on which they have been traveling but another issue when they are transferred onto another boat and facilitated and told to go in that direction,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Angus Camp-bell, the three-star Australian army general heading the effort to block boat people from reaching Australia, said no boat has gotten to Australian territory since before Christmas.