Asylum seekers' suicide threat passes

'Disturbed and tortured': the 260 Sri Lankan asylum seekers (Reuters)

Yesterday a man from the group named Alex said they had threatened to blow themselves up if they were forced ashore, but Indonesian navy Colonel Irawan said today the group was no longer threatening suicide.


He said the group now had no explosives aboard after their gas stoves and diesel fuels were confiscated.


The navy says it is carefully negotiating with the Sri Lankans, saying human rights are the first priority and talks would progress one day at a time.


The boat was intercepted by the Indonesian navy on Sunday after a tip-off from Australian authorities and a call from Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.


An Indonesian navy spokesman, First Marshal Iskander Sitompul, told the ABC that many of the 260 men, women and children aboard the boat moored at a West Java port feel traumatic about going ashore because they have been "disturbed and tortured" during their journey from Sri Lanka, which began in late July.


He says they lived in the jungle in Malaysia for several months before a people-smuggling syndicate took their passports and promised to deliver them to Australia.


A hand-painted sign is tied to the top of the cargo boat's cabin saying "We are Sri Lankan civilians, please save our lives'".


The head of the Immigration Division of the Law and Human Rights office, Harry Purwanto, has told the ABC he is in Sumatra surveying a new immigration detention centre - built with Australian aid - as a possible location for the asylum seekers.




Rudd defends policy


Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has defended the Government's border protection policies in the face of attacks from the Opposition and the Greens.


Mr Rudd says the Opposition has offered no policy alternatives and says the Government is dealing with a difficult problem.


"We believe we have got the balance right in a hardline approach," he said.


The Greens say the Christmas Island facility should be abandoned and asylum seekers brought to the mainland to have their cases heard.


The Federal Government has this week put in an extra 200 bunk beds to meet what it fears is a growing demand for accommodation on the Christmas Island detention centre.


There are more than 1,000 people detained on Christmas Island - another 58 will arrive soon after being picked up off Ashmore Reef.


Over the past six weeks nearly 700 asylum seekers have been intercepted in Australian waters and ferried to the island facility, which is close to capacity.


ABC Net