Dear Hassie,

You, like most Australians, have always been
a "bleeding heart do-gooder," as the record
shows. Australians have always been very generous
in helping others in trouble, whether its our own,
or people elswhere in this world. And that's
something of which we can all be proud.

Just heard the government has apologised for inadvertently entering
Indonesian waters.
If this a problem, then perhaps we should only use civilian ships such
as Customs and Immigration vessels.

Or better still stay out of Indonesian Rescue zone and if they sink,
well we were not there to rescue anyway.

It may be sad to say it, but it is the reality of the world: diplomacy is the luxury of the powerful.

In the context of Indonesian-Australian relations, the powerful is Australia in real terms of politics, economy and military.

However, Australia is the weaker in action, because it is a civilised nation bound by principles, laws, media scrutinies; on the other hand, Indonesia can afford to be reckless and irresponsible, because it is a rogue state.

The conflict between the two nations on the issue of illegal boat entries is a conflict between a free and civilised nation and a corrupted rogue state.

Indonesia, for many years, has been trying to keep Australia on its knees by facilitating mass invasion of muslims, and, successfully to this day. And, understandably, they have their reasons. Australia helped East Timor to gain independence, and still helping other ethnic groups to secede from Indonesia. Also, Australia supports Christian minorities living in Indonesia.

While Indonesia is powerless to do anything on those issues, they have found the weak point in Australia to offset their loss.

With the broad context in mind, I don't think Australia can afford to lose in the conflict.

rechtub,
You were born at the wrong time.

I bet you would have had a great time in Europe in the late 1930's (if you wore a brown shirt).

You missed your chance in the US in the fifties too - although it's probably pretty hot under those white hoods.

Same old arguments - just different players.

Ho hum.

If it comes down to a matter of cost, it would be far cheaper to process them on the mainland than to fund this extravaganza with all those overseas detention centres.

I thought stopping the boats was to save lives - although it was really about buying votes.

The refugees are not the problem - they are just a symptom of another problem - a global one.

If Australia was serious about this it would remove it self as a signatory to the convention it helped draw up and have no obligation to take anybody for any reason.