The new boat people: how come nobody wants them?

Two related stories in the meeja this weekend are causing a good deal of handwringing and hypocrisy at urgent sessions of the Disunited Nations, the European Quasi-union and other One-World talking shops. The Brotherhood of Man is being challenged by the arrival of boatloads of 1000s of mostly Muslim "refugees" from north Africa, the Middle East and south Asia now washing up on the shores of Europe and southeast Asia. Although no-one likes to admit it, the real reason no-one wants them is to be found in the two words preceding "refugees" in the previous sentence.

First, the bad news from the Mediterranean. In spite of widely reported drownings of hundreds of refugee wannabes, the tidal wave of dark people keeps increasing in size, and now threatens to inundate Italy and slop over into Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Everyone agrees that Something Must Be Done. Surely we're not going to let those "poor" people drown! But what is to be done? And by whom?

To make matters worse [Is that possible? Ed.] an adviser to the Libyan government [They have a government? Ed.] told BBC News this weekend that Islamic State (IS) fighters are being smuggled into Europe in the midst of the "genuine" refugees. Officials in Italy and Egypt have previously warned that IS militants could reach Europe by migrant boat, but say now -- possibly for fear of being labelled as "racists" or "Islamophobes" -- that it is very difficult to verify or assess such claims.

The Libyan official, Abudul Basit Haroun, based his claim on conversations with smugglers in parts of North Africa controlled by the militants. He "alleged" -- the BBC's word -- that IS was allowing the boat owners to continue their operations in exchange for half of their income. Earlier this year, -- the EU’s "alleged" -- Walt's word -- border control agency, Frontex, warned that it was "possible" that foreign fighters were using "irregular migration routes" to get into Europe.

Egypt’s ambassador to the UK has warned of "boats full of terrorists" if the international community does not act, while the Italian government has expressed fears of militants infiltrating the boats, while emphasizing that the boats are... wait for it... a "humanitarian crisis".

So what to do? BBC News reports today that EU foreign and defence ministers are expected to approve a mission to destroy the boats used by people-smugglers operating in war-torn Libya. (Notice how no-one talks any more about who start the war that destabilized Libya. Ye reap what ye sow.)

Speaking on arrival for an urgent meeting with the sprouts in Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said "today the main point will be taking the decision to establish the operation, the EU operation at sea to dismantle the criminal networks that are smuggling people in the Mediterranean." She did not say whether the boats would be destroyed before or after they were loaded.

Meanwhile, a parallel "humanitarian crisis" unfolds 1000s of miles away, in the Indian Ocean, where three countires -- Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia -- are being condemned by the do-gooders at the UN for refusing to rescue, let alone accept, 1000s of Muslim migrants adrift in the Andaman Sea.

Last week, at least 700 Bangladeshis and Rohingya from Myanmar were rescued off the Indonesian island of Aceh, bringing the numbers of "refugees" in camps there to at least 1500. The Rohingyas, if you haven't heard of them, are an ethnic group who have lived for yonks in northwest Burma [or Myanmar. Take your pick. Ed.] but are denied citizenship because they are, errr, Muslims, and Burma is a Buddhist country. 1000s of Rohingyas have shipped out, fleeing persecution and poverty in Myanmar. They are stranded at sea along with additional 1000s of Bangladeshis -- also Muslims -- who are just looking for work.

Aid agencies say a "grave humanitarian crisis" is in train as countries in the region refuse to accept the migrants. Visible on the sides of the refugee boats are numerous black marks which appear to have been made by ten-foot poles. Thailand, the closest country to Bangladesh and Burma is, like Burma, a Buddhist country, which doesn't want to be overrun by Muslims. Thailand's reluctance is understandable, given that they already have a problem with Islamic terrorists in their southernmost provinces.

Malaysia and Indonesia are, errr, Muslim countries, but don't seem any more disposed to receive their co-religionists than the Buddhists of Thailand. Indonesian authorities have told fishermen not to help the migrants unless their boats are sinking or they are in the water. Military spokesperson Fuad Basya said fishermen could deliver food, fuel and water to the boats, or help with repairs, but that bringing them to shore would constitute an illegal entry into Indonesia.

The Muslim boat people are believed to be severely malnourished. Survivors who have made it to shore say there have been deadly fights on board over food. UNHCR spokesthingy Vivian Tan called the lack of rescues over the past weekend "a bad sign" and warned that "time is running out" to help the migrants. The BBC quotes her as saying, "We were hoping that more ships would be found, and that more people would be rescued and allowed to come onto shore. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to have happened".

Who will take in the poor Muslim "refugees"? Walt suggests that American and Canadian authorities keep their eyes on their countries' Pacific coast, to see what the tide will bring in. Hey, it's happened before, and of course we "Christians" couldn't refuse entry to these huddled masses, because to do so would be anti-Muslim, racist, etc etc etc.

Australia locks door on boat people, throws away key

News from the Antipodes today, via the BBC's Asia webpage. The mostly white, British-descended citizens of Australia are fed up with welcoming, feeding and housing the 1000s of "boat people" -- mostly "asylum-seekers" from Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh -- who wash up on their shores.

It's a stupid politician who doesn't know which way the wind is blowing, and Kevin Rudd, the new(ish) Wizard [Prime Minister, surely. Ed.] of Oz is no dummy.  "Our country has had enough of people-smugglers exploiting asylum-seekers and seeing them drown on the high seas," said Mr. Rudd yesterday, as he announced an overhaul of the country's asylum policy, ahead of a general election due this fall.

Under the new "Regional Settlement Arrangement", the PM said, "any asylum-seeker who arrives in Australia by boat will have no chance of being settled in Australia as a refugee." Instead, in the interests of combatting terrorism, the mostly Muslim hordes -- and the Tamil terrorists mixed in with them -- will be sent to Papua New Guinea, the poorest and most violent country in the region, where they should feel right at home.

"Why PNG?", I hear you ask. [Why PNG? Ed.] Because the Aussies will pay the PNGians (or whatever they call themselves) to take the refugees. Said Mr. Ruddyface, "The new arrangements will allow Australia to help more people who are genuinely in need and help prevent people smugglers from abusing our system."

Walt's source in the western part of Papua -- now a part of Indonesia -- suggests than after an initial period of adjustment, the new arrivals will be sent inland, to areas in which (it is rumoured) cannibalism is not unknown. "It will be a great opportunity for [the refugees] to share the values of Islam -- 'the religion of peace' -- with the poor benighted Papuans", said a spokesthingy for the United Nations.

Even as we speak, the natives of Papua are doubltess preparing to welcome the newcomers. Yes, we do have a recent picture. Walt has agents everywhere!
 

Book review: A journey through Vietnam and a refugee's psyche

A month ago, in "What they eat in Vietnam", I introduced you to Catfish and Mandala, a book I bought expecting a travelogue of a journey through that little-known country. Although Andrew X. Pham's 1999 book contains plenty of fascinating travel tidbits -- like the descriptions of the strange Vietnamese cuisine -- it should really be described as more memoir or autobiography than travel book.

Mr. Pham describes himself now as a Viet kieu -- an overseas Vietnamese. He is one of the 1000s of "boat people" who fled Vietnam in the aftermath of the war. With his family, he was "adopted" by a Baptist congregation in Shreveport LA. After a short time the refugee family moved to California, to be in poorer circumstances but at least in a community of Vietnamese and other immigrants.

A disturbing theme of the book is the effect that life in America had on the family. By the time Pham decides to leave home and return to Vietnam in search of his roots, two of his brothers have decided to be gay, and his elder sister, a transvestite turned transexual, has committed suicide. Whether these problems of sexual identity are due to culture shock or a dysfunctional family life is a matter for speculation. The author talks freely about his own identity problems and those of his siblings, but reaches no conclusions.

As for the travel part, Pham, after experiencing a bit of an epiphany while bicycling in Baja California, throws in his job as an aerospace engineer and sets off to bicycle counterclockwise around the Pacific rim to the land of his birth. He gets a decidedly cool welcome from the Vietnamese who have been left behind. Even folks in his old neighbourhood seem to be asking, "What did you come back for?"

That part of the book, then, is yet another statement of Hardy's dictum -- you can't go home again. The resentment of those who left by those who were left behind is particularly acute in Vietnam, but still the same sentiment one finds in China, Zimbabwe or just about any other third world country.

The more interesting part of the book is the painful personal history of Mr. Pham and his family. There are hints of dark doings while the family is still in Vietnam, and at the end the source of the family's (comparative) wealth is revealed. Pham writes about his family compassionately, not critically, implicitly putting at least some of their troubles down to the trauma of adjusting from a traditional Asian culture to that of modern America.

He is understanding, too, of the grasping rudeness he meets in Vietnam. What the reader sees in Andrew Pham is the emerging of the "global soul", so well described by Pico Iyer in his book of the same name. (The Global Soul, Knopf, 2000)

Catfish and Mandala is extremely well written, a pleasure to read. For his work, Pham won the 1999 Kiriyama Pacific Rim Book Prize. I expected to be entertained, and was not disappointed. I did not expect to learn as much as I did about the life and emotions of "displaced persons". Highly recommended.