High Court Cheered

Published on Sep 5, 2011 by Luke Hunt

AsiaWATCH – The High Court’s decision to reject the Government’s asylum seeker swap deal with Malaysia was closely watched by Tamil refugees. Our reporter filed this dispatch from India. Refugee advocates in southern India say that people smugglers and some Sri Lankan Tamils will be rejoicing at a recent decision reached by the Australian High Court. The Court ruled the Gillard Government’s controversial asylum seeker swap deal with Malaysia unlawful, which has put into doubt about the future of off-shore processing – a policy principle also supported by the Opposition. Many of the 72,000 Tamil refugees living in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu closely watched developments relating to the Gillard Government’s controversial asylum seeker swap deal with Malaysia.....

Court Nixes Refugee Deal

Published on Sep 2, 2011 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — Australia’s High Court has thrown a legal spanner into the works of efforts to find a Southeast Asian solution to people smuggling. The court ruled Thursday that Canberra can’t transfer asylum seekers to Malaysia for processing because the country isn’t a UN signatory on the treatment of refugees, while Australia is. The decision throws into doubt Australia’s ability to ring fence asylum seekers while their claims are being processed on Manus Islands in Papua New Guinea, and possibly Nauru. Read more in The Diplomat. .

Jakarta Nabs ‘People Smuggler’

Published on Sep 1, 2011 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — Sayeed Abbas Azad has been billed as the biggest catch so far by Southeast Asian authorities seeking to crack down on people smuggling rings transiting through here en-route to Australia. Indonesia arrested the 29-year-old Afghani following a request from Canberra for his extradition. That deportation now seems likely, but by most accounts it will be a lengthy process and Abbas appears destined to remain behind bars for the foreseeable future while the Indonesian bureaucracy processes his case. Read more in The Diplomat.   .

Sand and Singapore

Published on Aug 31, 2011 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — The politics of sand is a dirty business, and there’s plenty of it around – particularly in the tiny island-state of Singapore. Its voracious appetite for constructing mega-buildings and expanding its borders by filling in the sea has led to widespread ecological damage around the region. Indonesia has complained bitterly about its disappearing islands and banned the export of sand. So has Vietnam. Malaysia uses dealings over sand as a political bargaining chip when negotiating with Singapore, and countries further afield are also thinking twice about selling it sand. Read more in The Diplomat.     .

The Borneo Death March

Published on Aug 24, 2011 by Luke Hunt

Lt. Harry Hyslop with Capt. Chas May FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — The 264-kilometre hike from Lolosing to the summit of Taviu Hill in the central highlands of north Borneo has been dubbed the toughest hike in the world. But a group of 14 British soldiers have set off in the hope of becoming the first to complete the full length of the infamous Borneo Death March. Read more in The Diplomat. .