Insurgents and their Labor Green Loon Progressive supporters (sponsors) whine they were tricked by Royal Australian Navy and repelled to base camp in Indonesia.

Asylum seekers say they were tricked by navy

Michael Bachelard
SMH
January 17, 2014

Operation Sovereign Borders: Royal Australian Navy accused of entering Indonesian waters in fight against Insurgents

Australia has for the first time used one of its new lifeboats to send a group of 56 asylum seekers back to Indonesia in a move that is likely to plunge the bilateral relationship to a new low.

Fairfax Media has interviewed a large group of would-be refugees from Pakistan and Bangladesh who scuttled their wooden vessel six days ago in an attempt to avoid being pushed back to Indonesia.

Instead they were picked up by an Australian Navy vessel, HMAS Stuart, and kept overnight before being transferred to a Customs and Border Protection vessel.

The men said they were tricked into thinking they were going to be taken to Christmas Island. But they were put on a small, bright orange lifeboat-style vessel close to the Indonesian shore, with only enough fuel to return there.

The Indonesian man who captained their wooden asylum boat was put at the helm of the Australian lifeboat to complete the three-hour journey.

The news came as Fairfax Media confirmed that Australia escorted another boat back on December 26, bringing to five the total number of confirmed instances of turn-backs, despite Indonesia’s long-running objections to the practice.

Pakistani asylum seeker, Fazal Qadir, 28, said he had set sail from an island off Java on January 5 bound for Christmas Island with 56 people from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq and Palestine on board, along with an Indonesian captain and one crew member. There was one woman with a 20-month-old toddler.

After about three or four days at sea, he said the group was spotted by an Australian aeroplane flying overhead. The boat was already leaking.

"We were very happy [when we saw them] because we thought when the boat went into the water, then they must receive us,” Mr Qadir said.


A sheet from a document given to them by Australian Customs.
All of the people on board already knew of other vessels which had been returned to Indonesia, so were determined to be rescued rather than escorted back. One passenger took a piece of wood and prised open the hole that was already in the hull. Others rocked the boat.

When it foundered, two Australian speedboats reached them and the 12 navy personnel on board told the asylum seekers to cling to the side. The toddler was provided with a life jacket, Mr Qadir said.

About 20 minutes later, two Australian Navy vessels, numbered 153 (HMAS Stuart) and 88 (HMAS Maitland) came into view.

Mr Qadir said the group was loaded onto the Stuart and they steamed towards Christmas Island. The men were told, and believed, they would be taken there. But the ship did not dock at the island. "We were going around Christmas all the time. For two days we were in the navy ship," Mr Qadir said.

The group was photographed and interviewed by navy personnel. They gave their names and were provided with white, numbered wrist bands.

On the second day they were transferred to a Customs and Border Protection boat that they could not identify. "We could see Christmas [Island]," the men said.

For three days they remained on the Customs boat.

During this time the men were desperate to call their families to tell them they were all right.

"We wanted to call our home because our families were scared their children were dead, but the navy and Customs would not give us a phone. They said we could call when we reached Christmas Island but they lied to us."

Finally, the men say, they were tricked once more. Mr Qadir said a small orange boat with a weather canopy was tied to the back of the Customs ship. They were told to board it because it would ferry them to Christmas Island.

At the last minute, though, a Customs officer came on board, tossed the asylum seekers a four-page document in a range of languages, and returned to the large ship, which sailed away.

The document, dated December 2013, reads: "You only have enough fuel to reach land in Indonesia. You do not have enough fuel to continue your voyage to Australia.

"The master of your vessel is now responsible for your safety. You must co-operate with the master and not act in a manner that risks your safety. You are responsible for your own actions. Your vessel is not equipped for a voyage to Australia. It is not safe to continue your voyage to Australia.

"If you continue on your journey, the master and crew of your boat will face harsh penalties, which may include a jail term."

The master was the Indonesian captain who had brought them from Java. They showed the compasses, GPS system and satellite phone that were provided with the orange boat.

The men said they were dropped very close to Indonesia. It took only three hours to reach shore.

They and the captain abandoned the Australian boat and walked into the jungle. They said they walked for five hours, including crossing a flood-swollen river, to find help.

They returned to their former houses in the West Java town of Cisarua late on Wednesday night.

On Wednesday Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa described the lifeboat option as "a slippery slope".

"It's one thing to turn back the actual boats on which they have been travelling but another issue, when they are transferred onto another boat and facilitated and told to go in that direction,'' he said.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison declined to comment on the asylum seekers' treatment.

A statement from his office said: "For operational security reasons, the government does not confirm or otherwise comment on reports of on-water activities in relation to Operation Sovereign Borders or disclose details of any operations.''

Indonesian's desecrate Australian War Grave,HMAS Perth.

HMAS Perth: WWII warship grave stripped by salvagers

By Linton Besser, Dan Oakes and Norman Hermant
ABC
Fri 13 Dec 2013, 8:13pm 

Survivors, historians and Defence personnel have been horrified to discover that the wreck of HMAS Perth, which was sunk by the Japanese in 1942, is being destroyed by commercial salvagers in Indonesian waters.

Australian authorities have tried to keep the scandal a secret, fearing the issue might add fuel to the ongoing diplomatic tensions between Australia and Indonesia.

The warship, which sank in the Sunda Strait between Sumatra and Java, is the last resting place of as many as 355 Australian sailors who went down with the vessel after it was struck by multiple torpedoes.

But it has never been protected as an official war grave.

Australia and Indonesia are yet to ratify the UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage, a binding national treaty which would oblige both countries to protect such sites.

Since at least September, scuba divers have made official reports of large-scale damage to the wreck from a massive floating crane equipped with a salvage claw.

These reports have been made to the Australian embassy in Jakarta and to local officials in the Department of Environment and Heritage, and the Department of Defence.

'Extensive' wreck damage reported by divers

Several salvage barges have been spotted in the area, and one was photographed in October dredging up the carcass of a Dutch submarine - the O-16 - which sank off the coast of Malaysia.

Sam Collett, a professional diver based in the Philippines, told the ABC he last visited the wreck in September.

"Compared to previous trips I had made, the extent of commercial-scale salvaging was immediately obvious," he said.

"On the boat trip back to the marina in Anyer we passed a salvage barge with a crane and claw and a large pile of what appeared to be wreckage on the deck."

Andrew Fock, an expedition diver with a keen interest in HMAS Perth, said there was "extensive damage".

"As best we can tell from the video footage supplied, most of the superstructure - if not all of it - is gone, the guns from the forward turret, the A-turret are missing.

"The gun houses for the two front turrets are missing, and most of the upper deck... is missing.

"The catapult has been removed, the bridge has been removed, the crane has been removed."

Defence warns of mass salvaging, wants human remains protected

An official report was lodged with the Department of Defence in October detailing the damage. The report, seen by the ABC, said there was a strong possibility that human remains still exist within sections of the ship and that they risk being disturbed.

It warned action must be urgently taken to prevent further mass salvaging.

"It is probable that unless action is taken the salvers will return and continue to pull apart the wreck, especially if their previous efforts have been remunerative," the document said.

"It should be noted that any attempt to remove the exposed starboard armour belt would likely involve its supporting structure and prove catastrophic to the integrity of the remaining hull structure."

The ABC has seen other reports of the use of explosives by salvagers to break up the ship and make it easier to dredge.

In September, an Indonesian-based diver wrote: "The mid section above deck, where the bridge was, has been completely removed, the bow guns have been damaged by what appears to be explosives with the barrels missing and the tops peeled of [sic], the bow has collapsed completely."

"Although it is hard to be certain, but as the metal that was the superstructure is all missing and is not lying around as debris it looks although we could be wrong like purposeful attempt to salvage the steel."

The Defence report also made specific mention of risks posed by the fuel oil and ordnance on board the Perth.

The Indonesian-based diver did a second dive in September to confirm his findings. In an email, he reported that the vessel is now too "unstable" to allow divers to penetrate the interior of the ship.



"She has been hammered and the once impressive six inch A1 and A2 turrets are gone, the bow is flat and... the wreck is more hazardous than before - even for general swimming around, with lots of live ordinance, wire and overhanging metal."

"The explosions have unearthed a far amour [sic] of WW2 live rounds and what look like modern explosives (plastic flare shaped things) I assume from the salvage also appear to be lying about, be very careful what you poke in the sand/silt."

War veteran appalled by salvaging operations

Gavin Campbell is the last surviving officer of HMAS Perth. Now 92 years old and living a quiet life in Sydney’s suburbs, Mr Campbell became emotional at the news.

"I think it's appalling what's going on with my ship. It's something which should not be allowed to happen despite the fact there is no agreement between the two governments," he said.

"The remains of the crew are still there and should be treated as a war grave ... If the Navy and the government have been aware of it, shame on them for not taking action to stop it."

 
Pattie Wright, who wrote a biography of one of the warship's more famous survivors, Ray Parkin, has become a passionate advocate for the protection of the wreck.

"Canberra needs to claim this ship as a war grave," she said.

"It’s not different to the war graves in Villers-Bretonneux or Kokoda."

She suggested the Navy create a "tomb of the unknown sailor".

Ms Wright and Dr Fock have been planning a trip to the site in March next year to conduct a complete survey of the extent of the damage.

But any protection of the wreck or recovery of remains by Australian authorities relies on cooperation with the Indonesian government.

Officials in the departments of defence, the environment and veterans affairs have encouraged those who know about the issue to keep it quiet because of the ongoing diplomatic row between Canberra and Jakarta.

The HMAS Perth National Association is one such organisation which has been asked not to comment on the situation.

One Defence official reported recently by email.

"Navy is aware of the situation and have put up/are putting up a brief to the Minister. There are obviously limits to what Australia can do in someone else's territorial waters, so it will presumably come down to approaches to various Indonesian counterparts for their assistance."

The Department of Defence has not yet commented.

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