About the recently arrived asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, please try and be dry-eyed and rational about and consider the following:
1) All these Tamils have relatives and friends and business connections in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the homeland of Tamils.They have been on visiting terms all these years.
2) India is merely a short crossing from Jaffa. It takes less than half a day and is very safe and frequently used by shipping.
3)Australia is hundreds of kms away across some very rough seas.Shipping is seen very occasionally in the vastness of the Bay of Bengal.It makes for very dangerous passage. It doesnt make sense that if you are indeed fleeing to safety from persecution you would choose to take the extremely dangerous route to Australia where there are far fewer Tamils.
4 There are hundreds if not thousands of Tamils happily employed in business and government jobs in the south. They arent facing persecution and imprisonment or being murdered. The word "genocide" has been used by the boat people to describe their fears. What genocide?

The civil war that has cost so many lives has been caused by Tamils who were determined to tear the country to pieces to carve out a state of its own, as if Sri Lanka deserved this fate. They created the war to create their own political ends so should they now be rewarded for their failed enterprise? IT IS NOT AS THOUGH THEY DONT HAVE A PLACE OF THEIR ORIGINS TO RETURN TO NOW THAT THEY HAVE LOST THEIR GAMBLE!! THAT PLACE IS MUCH NEARER TO THEM THAN AUSTRALIA IS.SO
WHERE SHOULD THEY RIGHTLY GO?
Why dont they go there? Is it because there's no Medicare and CentreLink there ?

socratease

socratease

Thank you Socratease for providing some historical background on the Tamils.

Puts a whole different perspective on the Tamil refugee situation doesn’t it. Why has the Australian media failed to report any of these facts? Typical of the lazy reporting of the media who often just use the immediate sensation headlines but never bother to do any homework on the real background of these overseas conflicts. It’s no wonder there is such a conflict over this between the Australian people because the media has failed to fully inform them once again.

So all these people are paying 15 grand for a ticket on a leaky boat?

Wouldn't it be cheaper just to grab their passports and fly in on QANTAS or are there other factors involved?

I suppose they could wait the expected 10 years in a camp somewhere until it's "their turn" or just stroll into the nearest foreign embassy and ask for asylum that way.
Maybe desperate circumstances make people take desperate measures.
How far would you go if it was you?

Realistically, anybody with access to that much money in those societies can't be too interested in coming here just to cash-in on Medicare and Centrelink benefits.

If you want to blame the media for anything it's for perpetuating the politically contrived "crisis" that's being used to divert attention away from Turnbull's problems.

We are not in any imminent danger nor are there any evil hordes waiting to descend on us in vast fleets and destroy our society.

Sure, forget compassion if it doesn't suit but how about a little perspective?

rache
you are missing the point.They are TAMILS .
Tamil Nadu in southern India is a stone's throw away.It is the homeland of all Tamils of this world! They've been coming and going there to visit relatives and friends and business partners all these years. If they fear persecution why risk life by paying exhorbitant sums to snake heads only to get a passage across very treacherous waters of The Bay of bengal on a leaky boat and try to get to Australia?

socratease

It's unsurprising that the refugee-bashers are now resorting to ever more offensive and mendacious tactics in their efforts to discredit refugees who travel to Australia by boat in order to seek asylum.

For example, we have an entire post of distorted or plainly untrue factoids from socratease.

1. Tamils have been living in Sri Lanka since at least the second century BCE. Many would have no connection beyond language and ethnicity to Indian Tamils.

2. India is not a signatory to the UN Convention and has no legal obligation to grant asylum to refugees as Australia does.

3. If people have been forced from their homes and are being persecuted it makes a lot of sense for them to try and re-establish their lives in a stable country that is signatory to the UN Convention. Clearly, they consider the dangerous sea journey safer than remaining where they are - which is an indication of the dire straits they are in.

4. India is currently considering whether to grant residency to the tens of thousands of Tamil refugees who have sought refuge there, but is under no legal obligation to do so. The 'genocide' that the refugees fear is well-founded in the extensively reported inhumane actions of the Sinhalese victors in the civil war.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lankan_Tamils

http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/10/16/rather-than-feed-xenophobia-rudd-should-push-diplomacy/

Thanks for that rather intemperate spray, Leigh. You've demonstrated quite nicely my comment that you are a truly hateful person. I won't hold my breath waiting for blairbar to admonish you either.

Incidentally, what would a pensioned-off public servant know about running a business? Match boxes and cigarette cards? You really are showing your age, old chap. Perhaps you should join a bowling club, attend basket weaving classes or engage in some other activity commensurate with your diminished intellectual capabilities.

CJ Morgan, I’ve gone back over your posts on this and other related threads in an effort to try to understand the point you are trying to make and the basis for your perspective.

I’ve (so far) not been subjected to the sort of venom you and other posters exchange; perhaps there is some background there of which I’m not aware. You are clearly passionate and compassionate about refugees which are to your credit.

Without providing any more links, would you be willing to state your position on some of the points upon which some consensus might be reached?

1. Does it matter to you what terminology is used to describe boat people and if so why?
2. Given that the UNHCR estimates some 15 million refugees/asylum seekers currently, how do you personally feel about those who can afford to bypass the UNHCR?
3. Why do you think there are people who deserve the tag “refugee bashers” and how do they earn that title?
4. Do you feel we should accept boat people into Australia as refugees and if so what pro’s and con’s would you anticipate for them and us?
5. Are the current Tamil refugees any different to other refugees and if so why?
6. Our government seems to be trying to be humane on the one hand whilst not seeking to encourage more boat people on the other. What proposals would you put forward?

You and I have so far avoided some of the nastier attributes of OLO debates and I would prefer to keep it that way. I genuinely look forward to your responses.