Thursday, March 7, 2013

People Smuggler - an Open Letter to Kevin Rudd MP


Hello Mr Rudd

I have just finished reading Robin de Crespigny’s biography of Ali Al Janabi called The People Smuggler, and I am wondering if you have had the time to read it.  It is a very moving account of a man who spent years trying to escape from Iraq after his Father was imprisoned in Abu Ghraib prison and sent mad by the torture of it.  He and three siblings also spent time in that prison and one was killed in prison.  


He eventually escaped to Malaysia/Indonesia and after being totally ripped off by a so-called people-smuggler he was left with no option to have a go working for someone to earn the money to try again to come to Australia.  He was appalled by the cheating, lying and callous disregard of people’s welfare by the operators he saw, and decided he could not do that to his fellow Iraqi’s so he decided to have a go doing it fairly.  He decided he shouldn’t charge more than $1000 a person and children should be free.  Very often he let people travel for less or free on the strength of a promise to get the money to him when they got to Australia.

All this he did, to earn enough margin to bring his mother and siblings to Australia.  He wasn’t a gangster, ripping people off.  While he had no legal rights to be in Indonesia, the business he carried out in helping to transport refugees to Australia was not breaking any Indonesian law and legal and military people had ample opportunity to take him into custody if they had wanted to.

Then a crooked man, who did sent people to sea in unseaworthy boats, most notably the SIEVX, took advantage of a contact with the AFP to trap Ali after Ali had sent his final boatload of people to Australia – he was no longer involved.  This crooked man ensured that Ali’s trip to Bangkok would result in the AFP being able to arrest and extradite him to Australia to stand trial for people smuggling.  In return for his evidence that crook got immunity from prosecution, permanent residency and a $250,000 gift from the Government, while Ali was again and again denied his human rights by Department of Immigration officials and the Minister for Immigration even after a Judge described him as the Schindler of Asia because of his compassion and determination to do all he could to save lives.

I would like to ask you how Ali qualifies for your description as being one of the “scum of the earth”.  I know that was a throw-away line and I hope that in some small respect you have come to regret it since you have had more time to think about your contribution to political life. 

I would also like to know how we can make laws in Australia that make a lawful activity in a country over which we have no jurisdiction criminal.  In our country the rule of law means that if something is made illegal or criminal, and a person is charged in relation to such activities they may have committed years before it became a criminal act, then they are not guilty of criminal behaviour because when they did it , it wasn’t a criminal offence.

What Ali did was not criminal in Indonesia.  What gives us the right to bring him here and then convict him of criminal activity?  Everything in me says this is an awful injustice we have perpetrated.

While he was preparing an appeal to the Federal Court, Ali’s lawyer said to him rather matter-of-factly that he was not a People Smuggler.  Smuggling people is about getting people into a country without the authorities knowing.  Boat people are tagged by Australian surveillance almost as soon as they leave port, they are intercepted and taken into immigration reception and their claims processed.  His lawyer said he wasn’t involved in people trafficking because trafficking involved kidnapping people.  All he was doing was engaging in a lawful business to raise money to bring his family to Australia.  When that was achieved, he topped doing it and was about to come here himself.

Every single person Ali shipped to Australia survived and was successful in making a refugee claim. All the members of his family have made successful claims and have permanent residency in Australia.  Ali has made a successful claim to be a refugee which the Department refused to act on until the Minister was force to act.  Residency was denied on the Character Test grounds.  And now minister after minister had denied any request for review.  Ali was given a Pending Removal Bridging Visa – he can work but he can’t get work, and he has this axe hanging over his head off arbitrary removal, should the government deem it safe to return him to Iraq, where he would most certainly face persecution again.

I suppose you know all this.

When you set out on your Kevin 07 Election campaign you wanted us to see you as a decent Aussie bloke, and I firmly believe you are.  I supported you and your side of politics.  I am convinced that your faith profoundly informs your politics and for that you had a softer edge on many of your policies, that I supported.

I suppose this issue has tied us all up in knots because it has become a political football, rather than an issue that our nation has sensed a call to respond to with compassion –after all, our participation in the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan made a very significant contribution to the refugee outflows from those countries.

Too much is at stake, I suppose, for you to respond to this with a heart, but I ask you to read Ali’s story, in his own voice.  Let his voice challenge you about the possibility that this period of Australia’s history on this policy matter will one day cause us great shame.

I remain yours truly,