asylum seekers face death if sent back to Papua

The ABC reports "Australian refugee advocates say they are alarmed by the Indonesian Government making a direct request to Prime Minister John Howard for the return of 43 Papuans.

Indonesian President Suslio Bambang Yudhoyono has assured Mr Howard that the group will not be prosecuted if they are returned.

The asylum seekers are currently being held on Christmas Island, off the coast of Western Australia, claiming genocide at the hands of the Indonesian Government.

Rob Wesley-Smith from the group Australians for a Free West Papua says the asylum seekers should be dealt with according to Australian law.

"The people have escaped from there because their lives are at risk," he said.

"Their fathers have been killed, one of them was in jail for a number of years himself, and this is the reality of the situation in West Papua - so no way should they go back - they'd be killed."

Mr Wesley-Smith says they seem to have valid claims for refugee status.

"There's evidence that some have been mistreated and tortured and they're a cohesive group and strongly politically motivated, and that there is no way that they would be seen as a group to be sent back - that that's just a preliminary assessment," he said."

This will be another test of decency for the Howard government, but with the polls in their favour don't be surprised if the geopolitical expediency card gets played again. After all, in this country we tell melanesians what to do, not the other way round...and don't mention the war!

as PM's polls go up again (ain't it great to be an Australian) another antidote to depression

Petty in The Age

antidote to depression - II

Leunig in The Age

antidote to depression - I

Leunig in The Age

For Australia, freedom from execution should not be negotiable

To its great credit The Age continues to lobby for changes to our government's approach to the imposition of the death penalty by neighbouring countries. However, the pivotal role of the AFP in the arrests of the Bali nine in a death penalty jurisdiction indicates the Howard government will sacrifice Australian lives in the name of expedient bilateral gains. As The Age put it:

"The prosecution of the alleged heroin traffickers known as the Bali nine relies heavily on information provided by the Australian Federal Police. The prosecutor has cited AFP documents in seeking the execution of the alleged ringleaders and life sentences for the other accused. The Australian Government has said it will lobby for clemency if death sentences are imposed, but a more consistent, pre-emptive approach might have averted this situation."

The only way to restore decency to government is to remove this power-drunk rabble of macho neo-cons from power at the next opportunity.

the history tragic..."I am not a relativist!"

Thanks to Daily Flute

Papuan asylum-seekers to Australia moved offshore

To get them as far away as possible from support services the recent arrivals from Papua have been dumped on Christmas Island. The culture of punishment and macho brutality continues unabated in DIMIA, cheered on by a veritable who's who of Australian right wing troglodytes. It demontrates that Howard's changes to asylum seeker management trumpeted by Liberal renegades last year were merely window dressing (as I suggested at the time) and that the vile mess that is mandatory detention would continue to brutalise its victims.

Our history of appeasement toward Indonesia on the question of Papua's quest for independence is a sorry tale of aiding and abetting neo-colonialist repression. We and notable allies have had a starring role in averting our gaze from the systematic and persistent brutalisation of the Papuan people by Indonesian armed forces. Perhaps this is just another way to model good governance and citizenship for our melanesian neighbours. The hypocrisy and lies pile up like rotting carcases, to a point where one can only just manage to see the ongoing killings and wanton human rights abuses through the mist of rhetoric and mine dust.

Trading places with morality

I don't normally rate the Courier Mail as an enlightened commentator on political and civil matters, but this article by Paul Gray is worth reading. It highlights the values of a government placing trade way ahead of morality in the conduct of bilateral relations. We have elected a government that weighs trade considerations in making decisions about protecting the lives of its citizens, and invariably comes down on the side of the dollar. I think we deserve better!