"தம்பிமாரே படகை விட்டு இறங்குங்கோடா" தலைவருடைய தாயார் வேண்டுகோள்

இந்தோனேஷியாவின் மெராக் துறைமுகத்தில் நிறுத்தப்பட்டிருக்கும் படகில் தங்கியுள்ள தனது மகனையும் மற்றும் அவருடன் உள்ள 246 இலங்கை அகதிகளையும் போராட்டத்தைக் கைவிட்டு இந்தோனேஷியாவில் தரையிறங்குமாறு இக்குழுவிற்கு தலைமைதாங்கும் அலெக்ஸ் என்ற சஞ்சித் குகேந்திரராஜாவின் தாயார் சத்தியா ராஜரட்ணம், வயது 46, வேண்டுகோள் விடுத்துள்ளார்.

Mom urges Tamils in Indonesia to abandon boat

The Canadian mother of a Sri Lankan asylum seeker has urged her son and his 246 fellow Tamil shipmates to abandon hopes of reaching Australia and to disembark in Indonesia from the moored freighter where they have languished for almost two months.


The Tamils' bid to reach Australia by sea was thwarted in October when Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd telephoned Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and asked him to stop them. They would have been one of the largest groups of asylum seekers to reach Australian waters, heaping political pressure on Rudd's government to stem a growing flow of refugees.


Most of the Tamils have capitalized on their public profile by refusing to leave their wooden ship at the port of Merak, 75 miles (120 kilometers) west of Jakarta, unless Australia accepts them. Australia denies any responsibility.

Sathia Rajaratnam, a 46-year-old electronics businesswoman from Vancouver, said Thursday that she came to Indonesia just over a week ago in the hope of ending the stalemate.


After failing to broker a deal for her son, 27-year-old Sanjeev "Alex" Kuhendrarajah, in meetings with Indonesian officials, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and the Canadian Embassy, Rajaratnam said she urged him to leave the boat unconditionally.

"I'm very sad and very upset, but there's nothing we can do," Rajaratnam told The Associated Press by phone from Merak.


"If someone guaranteed them that they are allowed to access communication tools and live in a decent place, then they will consider that, but no one will" give such guarantees, she added.


Her son, who was raised in Canada but was deported in 2003 after serving a prison sentence, said the asylum seekers would reject any deal offered by the Indonesians to leave the boat.


"The Indonesian government is not trustworthy," Kuhendrarajah told AP by phone.


Merak immigration official Harry Purwanto said the local detention center was full, but the government would confine them in rented accommodations if they left the boat.


"We won't force them to leave," Purwanto said.

Rod McGuirk , Associated Press , Jakarta