Asylum seekers appeal to PM Rudd

Sri Lankan asylum seekers locked in a tense standoff with the Indonesian navy have
pleaded with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to save them from an uncertain future.

The Indonesian navy apprehended the boatload of more than 250 asylum seekers, who
were trying to reach Christmas Island, in the Sunda Strait on Sunday.
Indonesia acted after an intelligence tip-off from Australia, and after Mr Rudd
personally spoke to Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The Sri Lankans are now moored at a port in Merak, in western Java, but are refusing
to disembark, adamant they want to continue their journey to Australia.
The Indonesian navy is trying to coax the asylum seekers onto land without violence.
The group's spokesman, a man named Alex, said on Wednesday that the 195 men, 27
women and 31 children on board would stand firm.
"We will not leave this ship until we have a resolution," he told AAP.
"Please convince the Australian people to make sure the prime minister reconsiders
his decision."
Alex said the Sri Lankans chose to seek asylum in Australia because it was the only
Western country they could afford to reach.
Australians were aware of the "genocide, misery and brutality" occurring in Sri
Lanka, he said.
"Kevin Rudd has accepted other refugees from Sri Lanka," Alex said.
"We thank you so much for accepting those refugees.
"But what is wrong with us? What is wrong with the woman and children on our boat?
What is the difference between us and them?"
Staying in Indonesia was not an option, Alex said. "Indonesia cannot care for us.
Indonesia cannot even take care of its own people.
"If Australia won't accept us, fine: some other country please take us.
"But we will not go back to Sri Lanka."
Local navy commander Colonel Irawan said the asylum seekers had surrendered a gas
stove and diesel fuel which they had threatened to use to blow themselves up.
"They are not suicidal anymore," he said.
"They want to live.
"They were in despair, they felt desperate but now they feel helped."
The navy had put no time limit on resolving the standoff, he said.
"This is a step by step process, not to be rushed. Human rights is number one."
The asylum seekers have denied they are associated with the Tamil Tigers and have
stuck a sign on the top of their boat which reads: "We are Sri Lankan civilians. Plz
save our life."
The group was at sea for almost two weeks before they were caught.
Thousands of asylum seekers from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka use
Indonesia and Malaysia as staging points for their dangerous sea voyages to
Australia.
Most engage the services of people smugglers, who charge them large amounts of money
to arrange the voyages.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the United Nations Refugee Convention, meaning
asylum seekers there are processed by the UNHCR and the International Organisation
for Migration and forced to wait - most for many years - to be resettled in a third
country.
Indonesia's detention centres are notoriously overcrowded and harsh.