Australia: Rohingya is not our problem, don't come...

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he won't criticise Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand for turning back asylum-seeker boats because Australia would do the same. Mr. Abbott said on Sunday he was not critical of efforts made by other nations to stop people smuggling in the region. "I don't apologise in any way for the action that Australia has taken to preserve safety at sea by turning boats around where necessary," he said. "And if other countries choose to do that, frankly that is almost certainly absolutely necessary if the scourge of people smuggling is to be beaten. If that meant taking more vigorous action on the high seas or closer to Burma, so be it."


Australia: We will not criticize Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand for refusing to help the Rohingyas

A boat crammed with migrants was towed out to sea by the Thai navy and then held up by Malaysian vessels on Saturday, the latest round of "maritime ping-pong" by Asian states determined not to let asylum seekers come ashore. An estimated 25,000 Bangladeshis and Rohingya boarded smugglers' boats in the first three months of this year, twice as many as in the same period of 2014, the United Nations has said. Their destination is Malaysia.

Australia: It is neccessary to be tough, we use our navy to stop them, for the past 18 months we are free from Rohingya problems

"Yes, we've always got to be humane and we've always got to be decent, but in the end we have to stop the boats," Abbott told reporters in Perth. After coming into power in September 2013, Australia's conservative government introduced a military-led operation to turn back boats carrying asylum-seekers before they reach the island continent. The boats are turned back to where they transited from, mostly Indonesia, or those on board are sent to offshore processing camps on the Pacific islands of Papua New Guinea and Nauru and blocked from resettling in Australia even if they are found to be genuine refugees.


Indonesia: We cannot accept more of these people, our navy will shoo them towards Malaysia

The government has credited the controversial policy for the nation going nearly 18 months with virtually no asylum-seeker boat arrivals and no reported deaths at sea, although human rights advocates have slammed it for violating Australia's international obligations. Before the policy was introduced, boats were arriving almost daily with hundreds of people drowning en route. "As long as the people smugglers put those in search of a better life into leaky boats and send them out into the open sea you will have deaths," Abbott added. "That's why the heart of this is stopping the boats."


Thailand: We have to spend millions of baht feeding these poverty-stricken people every month, do you think we are a rich country?

Abbott's comments came as Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he would seek help from Myanmar to address the influx of migrants, Southeast Asia's biggest since the end of the Vietnam War. But Myanmar's government – which denies the Rohingya citizenship – has already rejected a Thai call for a regional summit on the issue on May 29, saying it was not their problem. Myanmar insists Rohingya are illegal immigrants from Bangladesh. Even though Myanmar is the poorest nation in Southeast Asia, Bangladesh is even poorer, leading to many migrating out seeking for greener pastures elsewhere.

SOS:

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2...sands-stranded
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nati...-1227357004442


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