Sri Lanka, October 17: The Sri Lankan asylum seekers holed up in a boat in Indonesia say they intend to end their two-day-old hunger strike and are considering stepping ashore.
The more than 250 ethnic Tamils had refused to leave the boat since last Sunday, when it was intercepted by the Indonesian navy en route to Australia and taken to the Javan port city of Merak.
The adults began a hunger strike on Thursday, saying it would not end until a third country agreed to resettle them, or they started dying.
But after two days without food and water in the scorching Indonesian heat, the group’s spokesman, known as Alex, said the hunger strike could end thisafternoon.
“My people on board the ship are prepared to end the hunger strike,” he said.
“I think we have made a negative impact, and that’s not what we were looking for.”
The decision came as more asylum seekers succumbed to sickness, including an eight-month-old baby who was taken to hospital with breathing problems.
The baby, like the other 30 children on the boat, was not participating in the hunger strike and was returned to the boat after several hours.
Two male hunger strikers were also taken to hospital after passing out.
Alex said the asylum seekers would agree to finally come off the boat if a UNHCR representative agreed to meet with them and explain what was likely to happen next.
“People want to start living their lives. We don’t want to live like this anymore,” he said.
Most refugees in Indonesia, which is not a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, are forced to spend many years in legal limbo while they wait to be resettled.
“We don’t want to wait nine or 10 years in Indonesia because our children need education,” Alex said.
“As soon as we discuss that, we can get things rolling.
“My people are ready.”
The asylum seekers have been taking advice from top Australian refugee lawyer David Manne, Alex said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is reportedly seeking a new strategic agreement with Jakarta to halt the transit of asylum seekers through the Indonesian archipelago to Australia.
The Weekend Australian says a massively expanded Australian aid package to fund detention centres and training and broader intelligence-sharing between the two nations is at the heart of Mr Rudd’s plan.
A key aim will be to help Jakarta with the long-term resettlement of asylum-seekers currently in Indonesian detention centres.
Mr Rudd will discuss the terms of the plan with President Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono when he travels to Jakarta early next week to attend the Indonesian leader’s inauguration.
The Federal Opposition said any federal government plan to boost aid to Indonesia to curb the flow of asylum seekers reaching Australia was nothing more than a “public relations stunt”
—Agencies