Skip to main content

Tamil migrants refuse to leave ship

By Thirumalai Manivannan

Editor, BBC Tamil service

A ship with Sri Lankan migrants off Indonesia (file photo - January 2010)

The refugees are refusing to leave their ship, until they are assured of asylum either by New Zealand or by any other “similar country"

A group of Sri Lankan Tamil migrants who have been foiled in their attempt to sail to New Zealand by the Indonesian authorities, are refusing to leave their ship demanding they be sent to New Zealand.

The ship, MV Alicia, carrying 87 Sri Lankan Tamils, seeking to reach New Zealand, has been anchored off Indonesian shores, after developing mechanical snags mid sea.

The refugees are refusing to leave their ship, until they are assured of asylum either by New Zealand or by any other “similar country”.

They also want the UN to guarantee their safety.

The New Zealand government has reportedly refused to entertain any asylum request from the refugees, according to media reports.

‘Pregnant’

The ship carrying the group, which includes six women and five children, developed mechanical trouble on 9 July.

Most of us are civilians, though some belong to the families of the former LTTE fighters

Selvakumar, a spokesman for the migrants

One of the women in the group is reported to be pregnant.

The ship in distress was reportedly spotted by Indonesian maritime police, who escorted it into the Indonesian port of Tanjung Pinang, in Riau province of Indonesia.

Selvakumar, who was speaking for the migrants from the ship, told the BBC Tamil that they were mostly from northern Sri Lanka and were among those trapped in Mullaitheevu district during the final stages of the war between Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers.

They had all left Sri Lanka separately in the immediate aftermath of the war.

Most of them had been living in Malaysia for the past two years.

Living in Malaysia

They had hired the ship from Jakarta, by selling off their remaining possessions and through financial help from diaspora organisations, he said.

“Most of us are civilians, though some belong to the families of the former LTTE fighters” he said.

He however said none from the group was a member of the LTTE.

Selvakumar said the Indonesian authorities had interrogated four of them but they had all now returned to the ship now.

He said the Indonesian authorities were asking them to get off the ship but they would not do so unless there was a security guarantee by the UN and an assurance from the New Zealand Government that their asylum request would be granted.

He said they had provisions in the ship which would last for a month and the health condition of the migrants was good “ so far”.

Local officials of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) were present during their interrogation, Selvakumar said.

He said the IOM officials had assured them they would be in touch with the UN officials on their plight.

He said so far no UN official