afp,  Thu Oct 15 08:17:10 EDT 2009

    SYDNEY — A nine-year-old girl made a heart-rending plea for asylum after a wooden refugee boat carrying hundreds of Sri Lankan refugees to Australia was detained in Indonesia, reports said here on Thursday.The little girl, named only as Brindah, choked back tears as she begged foreign governments to open their doors to some 255 ethnic Tamils fleeing Sri Lanka's war-torn north, TV footage showed.
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- The Academic

This is not the first time LTTE supporters used their own children to shield from law enforcement.

Quote:

"I'm very concerned about the safety of children," Blair said. "I think it's an extremely dangerous situation to put children on the front line of a protest in that way. I think it puts them at tremendous risk."

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2009/05/10/toronto-tamilprotest.html

Another drama played by asylum seekers for the media. No fast unto death this time?

Click on the first video in the link below:

http://fastuntoaction.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/tamil-asylum/

The spoken English of the refugees is excellent.  Now if only all schools in other parts of SL could teach oral English like they do in the Northern schools .........

wesley wrote:

Click on the first video in the link below:

http://fastuntoaction.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/tamil-asylum/

The spoken English of the refugees is excellent.  Now if only all schools in other parts of SL could teach oral English like they do in the Northern schools .........

The little girl who is only 9 says "please take us anywhere, we can't live in Sri Lanka"  - this itself show she is a brainwashed and fully trained child to the media.
I can't think of any child hating their birth country unless words are put in to their mouth by bad parents.

Very good lesson for those who want to trash Sri Lanka to look for good life using scams.

After Big Mac eating fasting media events, it is very difficult to believe anything coming from pro-LTTE camps.

How come their first choice wasn't the natural one for them - Tamil Nadu?
If they go back to Sri Lanka, the money paid to take them to Australia will be wasted therefor they trash Sri Lanka.

This is exactly why someone like me have a hard time passing through most European airports.


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"What is left when honor is lost?"

Similar boat load of about 20-25 Tamils landed in Canada about 15 yrs ago on the shores of Newfoundland. They complained of the same stating it was difficult to live in SL under Sinhalese govt. They said they were in a cargo ship compartment for two weeks without proper food and begged Canadian authorities to help them. But Canadian Police (RCMP) suspected their story when they noticed they were in excellent health well dressed, shaven and not emaciated or dehydrated after two weeks without proper food and water. Finally the cat came out of the bag after questioning by RCMP. They had paid a smuggler from Germany to bring them to Canada in a cargo ship and dumped them on the Canadian shore using a smaller boat. They apologized to Canada for lying about their journey and begged for refugee status stating cock and bull stories about difficulties living in Sri Lanka. As usual Canadian govt allowed them to stay.

I have serious doubts about the accents of Alex, the spokesman and the 9-year old girl. They are more like the accents of Sri Lankans living overseas. Interesting to find out where they were during the last 4-5 years.


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"I do not suffer from Autism, but I do suffer from the way you treat me." -Tyler Durdin

Quote:

We can go anywhere -- to New Zealand, to Canada -- as long as we're not deported to Sri Lanka."

What about India (Especially, Tamil Nadu)?

The Australian papers are full of the refugee story today:

Here's the High Commissioner:

Quote:

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan high commissioner, Senaka Walgampaya, cast doubt on the account of a nine-year-old girl on the boat, Brindha, who made an emotional appeal for the Tamils to be helped. ''She is crying and weeping and said, 'We were in the jungles for one month','' he said. ''But she is quite well nourished and she spoke very good English. She is not from Sri Lanka.''

Looks like Walgampaya has seen my post on this thread!

More stories:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/boat-people-shun-fluids-in-standoff-20091016-h17s.html

http://www.theage.com.au/national/promise-of-bright-future-darkens-for-asylumseeker-family-20091016-h17q.html

Here's how a refugee advocate sees it:

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/razor-wire-returns-20091016-h128.html

More:

http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/contributors/we-should-accept-tamils-20091016-gzr9.html

And, here's perl's buddy, Brian S:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/rudd-pressed-to-visit-sri-lankan-camps-20091016-h184.html


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"I do not suffer from Autism, but I do suffer from the way you treat me." -Tyler Durdin

kkk123 wrote:

The Australian papers are full of the refugee story today:

Here's the High Commissioner:

Quote:

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan high commissioner, Senaka Walgampaya, cast doubt on the account of a nine-year-old girl on the boat, Brindha, who made an emotional appeal for the Tamils to be helped. ''She is crying and weeping and said, 'We were in the jungles for one month','' he said. ''But she is quite well nourished and she spoke very good English. She is not from Sri Lanka.''

Looks like Walgampaya has seen my post on this thread!

I saw his statement before I saw yours and couldn't quite figure out whether you were sarcastic or now.
Yes, he sounded exactly like you.

After that, I went back and listened to the videos again. These people are scam artists.  They look like well to do people looking for good life.  They may not be from Sri Lanka as well.  Right now Sri Lanka is like a free hooker every wants to ......


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"What is left when honor is lost?"

The article in the link below says " Four people smugglers received more than $US4million ($4.4million) to arrange for the boat to take the 30 families on board to Christmas Island. They even charged new born babies $US15,000 for the trip."

http://www.smh.com.au/world/hunger-strike-ends-too-many-have-died-20091017-h27r.html

Do your simple maths -  this means each family paid about US$ 133,000.00.  By SL standards, they're fairly rich refugees..........  

If you take into account that fighting has been going on in SL for nearly 30 years, causing the nation's economic prospects to spiral downwards, then SL must be a great place for Tamils to make money.

wesley wrote:

The article in the link below says " Four people smugglers received more than $US4million ($4.4million) to arrange for the boat to take the 30 families on board to Christmas Island. They even charged new born babies $US15,000 for the trip."

http://www.smh.com.au/world/hunger-strike-ends-too-many-have-died-20091017-h27r.html

Do your simple maths -  this means each family paid about US$ 133,000.00.  By SL standards, they're fairly rich refugees..........  

If you take into account that fighting has been going on in SL for nearly 30 years, causing the nation's economic prospects to spiral downwards, then SL must be a great place for Tamils to make money.

SL is a great place to make money if you are crook. The war only helped the crooks.


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'Anyone in a free society where the laws are unjust has an obligation to break the law.'

- Henry David Thoreau

rimfirejones wrote:

SL is a great place to make money if you are crook. The war only helped the crooks.

I agree, Sri Lanka is the heaven for those want to make lots of money this way since the law is on your side.


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"What is left when honor is lost?"

perl wrote:

rimfirejones wrote:

SL is a great place to make money if you are crook. The war only helped the crooks.

I agree, Sri Lanka is the heaven for those want to make lots of money this way since the law is on your side.

LOL!
Food for thought for whole of South Asia !
Should law-keeping be outsourced ?!


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*I am not the only one*

wesley wrote:

The article in the link below says " Four people smugglers received more than $US4million ($4.4million) to arrange for the boat to take the 30 families on board to Christmas Island. They even charged new born babies $US15,000 for the trip."

http://www.smh.com.au/world/hunger-strike-ends-too-many-have-died-20091017-h27r.html

Do your simple maths -  this means each family paid about US$ 133,000.00.  By SL standards, they're fairly rich refugees..........  

If you take into account that fighting has been going on in SL for nearly 30 years, causing the nation's economic prospects to spiral downwards, then SL must be a great place for Tamils to make money.

Difficult to imagine why they chose
Indonesia or even why they chose to flee
at this time for an asylum. They would soon
find themselves run out of their money.


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*I am not the only one*

rm7000 wrote:

Difficult to imagine why they chose
Indonesia or even why they chose to flee
at this time for an asylum. They would soon
find themselves run out of their money.

Well they don't qualify for migration to Western countries under the normal route based on the points system.  Now that the fighting is over, they have only a small window of opportunity to migrate as a refugee, taking advantage of the negative reporting in the Western press on SL regarding human rights issues.

Once all the IDPs are settled, and the elections held next year, it would be difficult for Sri Lankans to claim refugee status, as life slowly returns to normal in SL.

Only thing I don't understand is why did they wait so long.  Why didn't these fairly rich Tamils try to migrate as refugees when the LTTE was around and the war was going on?