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Current mood:  gloomy Category: Blogging
I am in a posting mood oh yes I am
Welcome back to another post on Mark's blog which almost no one reads. If you are reading this, understand that perhaps, just maybe, there could be, potentially, thousands of other things to read which are more humorous, more informative, more enlightening and generally more entertaining than what you are reading right now.
And for certain, it's more likely to be more accurate.
Anyway, what's in the news?
Ah yes - refugees! Australia has been intercepting more boats from Indonesia, carrying Sri Lankan Tamil refugees. It seems that the Sri Lankan government was not merely satisfied with winning the civil war, and is now trying to collectively punish the Tamil population that were on the losing side. According to the UN and just about any other Human Rights Groups, the Sri Lankan government are being thoroughly unpleasant when it comes to the Tamil population. Tamils say that they cannot live in Sri Lanka any more and are coming here.
In the past few months, about 500 or so people have attempted to come here. That's not much when compared to how many people try to get into the US by crossing the Mexican-American border, but in all of Australia's history, we've rarely had that many people trying to get in here illegally.
First of all - I'm sympathetic to the refugees. I really am. Mostly because I myself immigrated here, and that was only because my father had a British Passport and could easily get approved. I hate to think what my life would have been like if I had stayed in Malaysia. Thoroughly unpleasant, I would imagine. Not that Malaysia is a bad country - the people in Malaysia are friendly, the economy is growing and there are opportunities. I just... wouldn't have liked it over there. It's not the country for me.
But the Tamils are really having a tough time in Sri Lanka. The situation over there sucks, and they are desperate to get over here. Many sold almost everything they had to get over here, and some are so distraught over the possibility of being turned away, they are threatening to kill themselves. These are desperate people.
Rudd is not being swayed by this though. Which goes to show he is not the "nice" guy he portrayed himself to be. Rudd is playing politics - he knows that the Left will never vote for the Liberals, so he's being tough on Asylum seekers in order to appeal to the centre right. He doesn't lose the Left vote and he retains the very-slightly-right-of-centre folks.
Should we let them in? Difficult question. These people are not "evil". They are not bad - but to let them in would encourage more people smugglers to send more people over. It is so difficult to figure out what to do - we can't have an open border, but then again, these people are not evil and might be in genuine need of help. But if you let them in, more people might die in the crossing, and we could even become overwhelmed by more, less savoury types trying to get here.
Australia is not a racist country. Well, mostly. We accept many people here, legally, from all over the world. We legally accept refugees from the UN. Personally, I have experienced no racism, but that might be due to the fact that I look mostly white. Then again, my brother, who looks far more Asian than I do, has never said he experienced any racism. The vast majority of illegal immigrants in this country actually come over here on planes.
Australia's refusal of the refugees is tied more to class and economics than to race. Asylum seekers are seen as economically troubling and taxing. They also are outside the system and the government can't keep an eye on them. The need to stop illegal immigration is more of a heartless, pragmatic, nuts-and-bolts economic and organisational issue, and less of a xenophobic race issue.
Still it is a troubling issue. But in the end I have to say we have to turn back illegal immigrants. They are people too, I understand that. But Australia already does more than its fair share (as dictated by the UN) in accepting refugees. We can't accept everyone. We have to turn some back. It's not about race - it's about keeping an orderly system.
In return, we should do whatever we can to make the lives of Tamils in Sri Lanka more comfortable. I strongly believe that in return for turning away immigrants, we should, at least, triple if not quadruple the amount of aid we send overseas. And boycott the Sri Lankan government until they get their act together.
9:32 AM
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