The Human Rights Alliance (HRA) has long warned of maltreatment and detention centre deaths in Malaysia and Indonesia. The HRA has long warned of more deaths to come in Australian detention centres as a result of unnecessarily long incarceration or waiting periods in immigration detention.
The HRA can reveal its well placed sources in federal government have confirmed that the Cabinet has discussed the death of the 28-year-old Afghan (Hazara) man, who was among a group of five who escaped from the Pontianak detention centre, Kalimantan, Indonesia, on Sunday.
The Gillard led Cabinet sympathised with the plight of Asylum Seekers in Indonesia however acknowledged the bind it has itself in as a result of how the government has portrayed Asylum Seekers in recent years. They hope that the Amnesty International inspection of Australian detention centres, more reporting in the news media of the plight of Asylum Seekers in Indonesia and Malaysia will in the coming months begin to change how Asylum Seekers are perceived by the Australian peoples and in turn then allow the government to welcome more Asylum Seekers and process their applications faster and in time begin to dismantle the horror of the Detention centre network, more than 30 major centres alone, they have put together in recent years.
Cabinet members reflected on the Malcolm Fraser years when Prime Minister Fraser welcomed to Australia Vietnamese refugees who arrived by boat - and they lamented that the near future would judge the incumbent government harshly.
Instead of leading from the front and demonstrating real leadership by communicating honesty about the plight of Asylum Seekers in other countries to the Australian peoples they want the mainstream news media, particularly the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) to ensure more coverage of the maltreatment and deaths of Asylum Seekers for instance in Indonesia.
The chief police officer in Pontianak, Puji Prayitno, said the men were recaptured and at the time of their recapture they were healthy and again when they were returned to the detention centre.
One of them died the the next day and Mr Puji said it appeared the cause of death was trauma caused by a blunt object. The images of the man's bruised and battered body, of obvious acute and abject multiple trauma, shocked some of our federal ministers - it is time for them to speak up rather than encourage and rely on the news media to do their job - they should be reminded that politics is a calling.
While our ministers wait for cultural waves many more will suffer, many more will die.
Gerry Georgatos, convenor, Human Rights Alliance
PhD Law researcher in Australian Deaths in Custody
Contact: gerry_georgatos@yahoo.com.au
0430 657 309