"An effort to give posthumous dignity to 353 refugees who were seeking a better life (in Australia) but were killed in circumstances still not fully explained."
This is a story about compassionate efforts to give posthumous dignity. The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : In Australia, a memorial to a common humanity. A leaky and rickety boat where even 150 people would be overcrowded, set sail for Australia's Christmas Island from Indonesia with 421 passengers, mostly refugees from Saddam Hussein's Iraq. It soon sank in stormy seas in the internationally designated Indonesian search and rescue zone but also within an Australian border protection surveillance area.
An estimated 65 men, 142 women and 146 children died. The boat was described by Australian authorities as a Suspected Illegal Entry Vehicle (SIEV).
Some Australians continue to describe the incident as an unsolved crime perpetrated by Indonesian authorities with Australian encouragement or connivance. Some of the survivors testified that a couple of military vessels had approached them with searchlights but sailed off without any attempt to rescue the struggling mass of bodies swimming desperately in the seas.
The true message is how the community was touched by the tragedy and decided to create a memorial on its own initiative, entirely by its own efforts, and totally at its own cost with no government help or handout. The impact of visiting the memorial is surprisingly poignant and moving. There are times when governments do their best to destroy belief in basic human decency but ordinary people respond in a manner to restore faith.
An estimated 65 men, 142 women and 146 children died. The boat was described by Australian authorities as a Suspected Illegal Entry Vehicle (SIEV).
Some Australians continue to describe the incident as an unsolved crime perpetrated by Indonesian authorities with Australian encouragement or connivance. Some of the survivors testified that a couple of military vessels had approached them with searchlights but sailed off without any attempt to rescue the struggling mass of bodies swimming desperately in the seas.
The true message is how the community was touched by the tragedy and decided to create a memorial on its own initiative, entirely by its own efforts, and totally at its own cost with no government help or handout. The impact of visiting the memorial is surprisingly poignant and moving. There are times when governments do their best to destroy belief in basic human decency but ordinary people respond in a manner to restore faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment
To check spam, comments on older posts are moderated, so expect some delay before your comments are published