Remembering Siev X and all those who died in the ocean off the WA coast

Thirteen years have passed since the sinking of the asylum seeker vessel designated Siev X, in which three hundred and fifty-three people, including 146 children, 142 women and 65 men drowned when the boat sank en route to Christmas Island on October 19, 2001.

The disaster has never been officially investigated and serious questions remain about Australia's role in and knowledge of the sinking. 

The Australian writer Arnold Zable published this article in the Age this week to remember the sinking, and Amal Basry, one of 45 people who, along with her son Amjed, survived that terrible event.

When the boat sank, Basry was separated from her son and spent 20 hours in the water clinging to a corpse, surrounded by the floating bodies of dead children and adults, all the time expecting to die with the others. She was rescued by an Indonesian fishing boat and begged them to search for her son Amjed. He was the last survivor found.

In his article Arnold Zable wrote:

She told the tale of the sinking many times, with  audiences ranging from one listener to a Melbourne town hall packed with more than 2000. She would get out of her sick bed to tell it.  She spoke of the "children like little birds floating on the water". She was condemned to bear witness. In a cruel irony Amal died of cancer in 2006. Her tale is a reminder of the courage it takes to risk the seas in search of a new life free of oppression. 

The broadcaster Phillip Adams also remembered those who died in his weekly column in the Murdoch empire propaganda rag known as The Australian. He wrote:

This one sank in waters that Brandis-speak might describe as "disputed". International waters but within Indonesia's search-and-rescue responsibility, and also within Australia's aerial border protection surveillance zone. The Indonesians failed the victims of SIEV X, but so did we. We claimed ignorance and poor weather as excuses for failing to identify or help the stricken vessel. 

The subsequent Senate Select Committee inquiry into "a certain maritime incident" (as bizarre a euphemism as any ever coined by a bureaucracy) mainly focused on a different scandal – "children overboard" – but its terms of reference extended to SIEV X. The report was unflinching in its findings. "It is extraordinary that a major human disaster could occur in the vicinity of a theatre of intensive Australian operations and remain undetected until three days after the event without any concern being raised within intelligence and decision-making circles."

The boat known as Siev X set out in the pre-dawn darkness of October 18, 2001 from a Sumatran port with 421 asylum seekers on board. It was a rickety overcrowded, unseaworthy boat, bound for Australia. It was the height of the Howard's government manufactured "war" on refugees. At 3.10pm the following day, the boat, now known as SIEV-X, capsized and sank somewhere between the two countries with a terrible loss of life - 353 of the asylum-seekers drowned, including 146 children, 142 women and 65 men. 

The Australian government claimed it had no prior knowledge of the unfolding tragedy. Yet ministers and senior officials from the beginning mislead the Australian Senate and the community over important questions. What did the government and its agencies know about the boat and its fate, and when? Did we have any responsibility for the tragedy? Did we have a duty of care to save the survivors?

At the time Tony Kevin was one of the few people asking questions about the sinking and the Australian Government's knowledge and involvement. 

Tony's award winning book A Certain Maritime Incident: The Sinking of Siev X is the definitive work on the sinking (as is the website SIEVX.com) and the documentary Hope.

Marg Hutton (who established and runs the website SIEVX.com) along with Tony Kevin, were largely responsible for uncovering and telling the story of Siev X and keeping the investigation alive when all around them wanted to deny and hide the truth. 

In this piece to commemorate the 2013 anniversary of the sinking, Marg Hutton wrote:

I know of 16 instances of people travelling alone or in family groups on SIEVX who were trying to reunite with other family members already here. When SIEVX foundered there were at least seven men living in Australia on TPVs whose entire families were washed away. 

For those bereaved men whose families were annihilated, SIEVX was a weight too massive to shoulder and inflicted a wound too deep to heal. As survivor Sadeq Al Albodie wrote: 'We continue to suffer. The tragedy was too big. We have seen the deaths of children and women parading between the waves. Our lives have been severely narrowed by what happened to us.' 

As testament to what the human spirit can survive, some of the bereaved husbands and fathers have married again and now have young families. The loss they endured is always present — it is not something they will ever recover from, but their lives go on. So there are now young kids growing up in Australia, who were born here and speak with Australian accents, who had brothers and sisters who drowned on SIEVX. 

SIEVX is not only a huge Australian tragedy, it is also an international one. Philip Ruddock, Immigration Minister in 2001 when news broke of the sinking, was unmoved by the plight of the survivors. Ruddock refused to provide visas to the 45 survivors and only accepted seven into Australia because to do otherwise, he claimed, would encourage more people to embark on similar dangerous journeys. 

Survivors were split up and resettled in far away countries including Canada, Norway, Finland, Sweden and New Zealand. While all of the 23 'early survivors' who departed SIEVX the day before it sunk were eventually settled in Australia it was only after a gruelling wait of many years, despite the fact that most had family connections here. 

There were other cruelties meted out by our government to the survivors and bereaved of SIEVX. Sondos Ismail was travelling on SIEVX with her three young daughters, Eman, Fatima and Zhara to join her husband Ahmed Al Zalimi in Australia. Sondos survived the sinking but her three girls drowned. Her husband was unable to go to her because of the restrictions of his temporary protection visa — if he left the country he was not permitted to return and Philip Ruddock refused to bend the rules to help the couple.

Despite pleas to the government, five months passed before husband and wife were reunited in Australia. And even then their suffering at the hands of our authorities continued. In 2003 it was reported that Ahmed would be returned to Iraq when his visa expired. Thanks to a concerted community campaign this did not eventuate, but the needless pressure exerted on the couple who had already suffered so much, could not have assisted their recovery. 

When Ahmed was interviewed in July this year — the first time he had spoken publicly about SIEVX — he made it clear that the tragedy continues to torment his family: 'It is very very difficult to talk about there is a lot I can't say, my wife is still so depressed and it's been 12 years.' 

Australia's response to the SIEVX sinking is in stark contrast to how the Italian government responded to the recent tragedy off Lampedusa, where a similar huge number of asylum seekers lost their lives. Italy declared a day of national mourning and is reportedly providing state funerals for all 359 victims.

Liberal Party hubris and the ascension of Tony Abbott

Image courtesy of the ABC News Online

Like many I watched aghast at events in Canberra over the last 2 weeks. The hubris, grandiosity and self interest on display within the Liberal Party over the ETS scheme and the Liberal leadership was a sad reminder of the appalling state of Australian politics.

Both of the major political parties used the issue of climate change as a political opportunity to advance their political and personal interests, over the collective and common good.

With the ascension of Tony Abbott to the leadership of the Liberal Party the climate change skeptics and deniers are effectively in control of the Oppostion parties. Within the Labour Party there is little appetite for serious reform on climate change, perhaps reflecting the intensely pro business stance of the Rudd government and the power of the resources lobby within the Labor Party.

But just what will the ascension of Tony Abbott mean?

Tony Kevin has written a thoughtful and intelligent piece in the online magazine Eureka Street on the implications of Tony Abbott's ascension to the Leader of the Liberal Party and the Opposition Leader.

Tony Kevin argues that Abbott's ascension fundamentally changes the character of the Liberal Party and will have the affect of polarising public and political debate around climate change. He views that as a serious danger for action on climate change.

Abbott is on the public record as saying the climate science is 'crap'. He has backed away from that position now, claiming after his election to the leadership that his statement then was 'a bit of hyperbole. It is not my considered position.'

Tony Kevin makes this prediction .

This will now be a ruthless, dog-whistle election, whenever it comes. Abbott will have the climate change deniers and the rich and powerful coal lobby solidly behind his party's new position. He will present a 'respectable' policy, of believing the climate change science, supporting the agreed Copenhagen targets, and disagreeing with the Government only on its high-tax, coercive ETS.

But, just as Howard profited from Pauline Hanson's racism while professing to disavow it, Abbott's campaign will derive covert energy from climate change deniers and coal lobbyists. They knew he was their man, and he has now — by one vote — brought the entire Liberal Party with him. It was a successful Machiavellian strategy.

Tony Kevin in perth to talk on Climate Change and Siev X

Looking forward to the visit to Perth of award winning author Tony Kevin who will be launching his new book Crunch Time: Using and abusing Keynes to fight the twin crises of our era and opening an art exhibition inspired by his first book A Certain Maritime Incident: The Sinking of Siev X on the sinking of the asylum seeker boat Siev X in which 353 asylum seekers died.

Details of the events are:

Book launch of Crunch Time and conversation with Dr Carmen Lawrence, Tuesday 10 November, 6pm, Webb Lecture Theatre, Room G21, Ground Floor Geography Building, University of WA

Siev X Exhibition by Natalie Heyman will be launched at the Kidogo Arthouse, Bathers Beach, Fisherman's Harbour, Mews Road Fremantle on Wednesday 11 November, 6.30-8.30om. The exhibition will run from November 11-24.

Strategies for social and political change: addressing climate change

"The reason the ecosystem is dying is not because we still have a dryer in our basement. It is because corporations look at everything, from human beings to the natural environment, as exploitable commodities. It is because consumption is the engine of corporate profits."
Chris Hedges

Today is the International Day of Action for Climate Change 350. People in 181 countries have come together for the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet's history to call for strong action and bold leadership on the climate crisis.

In the lead-up to the day there has been considerable debate about the type of strategies needed to address climate change.

In the UK George Monbiot argues that strategies to address climate change must be directed at the rich who are the greatest contributors to the problem. Monbiot writes:

"So where are the movements protesting about the stinking rich destroying our living systems? Where is the direct action against super-yachts and private jets"

There is an important debate here involving Bill McKibben one of the leaders of the International Day of Action and Chris Hedges that points to different views on the type of strateies needed to address climate change.

McKibben argues that the situation is so serious we face total environmental catastrophe. The earth's atmosphere has exceeded the 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide above which the atmosphere begins to heat too an extent that we are all threatened. McKibben sees great potential in individual action and citizen- led grassroots movements to force governments to act.

Hedges applauds citizen led grassroots movements and small scale local action, but is skeptical about their capacity to force change. He argues that we can't address the release of carbon dioxide without addressing corporate power. Hedges writes:

" We have allowed the corporate state to sell the environmental crises as a matter of personal choice, when actually there is a need for profound social and economic reform"

Here in Australia the climate denialists continue to be accorded privileged status by their propaganda sheet- The Australian. But the fundamental failure of the Australian political system to find solutions to climate change (by pursuing a flawed ETS scheme) was the core message of Tony Kevin's recent piece (here).

Kevin's piece confirms that political processes and public policy making are unlikely to deliver the sort of radical solutions to climate change that are needed. His piece offers another salutatory lesson as well. That is, that many civil society groups and non-government organisations who make much of their advocacy on climate change are willing to compromise their climate agenda agenda for a seat at the table in the misguided belief that "staying in the tent to do some marginal good" is better than being outside the tent.

Tony Kevin: The Ghosts of Siev X

(photos of children courtesy of the SIEVX website)

The first time I heard Tony Kevin speak about the Siev X was on Phillip Adams's Late Night Live, during the Howard government's hysteria about asylum seekers, the "Tampa" and "children overboard" incidents. Tony was the first person to publicly raise questions about the official line on the sinking of the boat that was known as Siev X.

In the pre-dawn darkness of October 18, 2001, in a Sumatran port, 421 asylum seekers boarded a rickety overcrowded, unseaworthy boat, bound for Australia. It was the height of the Howard's government manufactured "war" on refugees. At 3.10pm the following day, the boat, now known as SIEV-X, capsized and sank somewhere between the two countries with a terrible loss of life - 353 of the asylum-seekers drowned, including 146 children, 142 women and 65 men. Tony Kevin was one of the few people asking questions about the sinking and the Australian Government's knowledge and involvement.

The Australian government claimed it had no prior knowledge of the unfolding tragedy. Yet ministers and senior officials from the beginning tried to mislead the Australian Senate and the community over important questions. What did the government and its agencies know about the boat and its fate, and when? Did we have any responsibility for the tragedy? Did we have a duty of care to save the survivors? Tony's award winning book A Certain Maritime Incident: The Sinking of Siev X is the definitive work on the sinking (as is the website SIEVX.com) and the documentary Hope.

I am proud to say that along with many West Australians I was involved in supporting Tony's ground breaking and courageous work on Siev X and arranged for him to come to Perth and Albany on a number of occasions to speak about the sinking and launch the book.

Tony is returning to Perth in November to launch an art exhibition based on his Siev X book and to launch his new book Crunch Time. The Siev X Exhibition by Natalie Heyman will be launched at the Kidogo Arthouse, Bathers Beach, Fisherman's Harbour, Mews Road Fremantle on 11 November, 6.30-8.30om. The exhibition will run from November 11-24.

Tony has written a fine piece that is published in today's Crikey. In the light of the darkening political rhetoric about asylum seekers this is an important piece that I have published in full.

Ghosts of SIEV X still shadow the corridors of power

Tony Kevin, author of 'A Certain Maritime Incident'

I wish I could go along with Guy Rundle’s optimistically Manichean essay in yesterday's Crikey contrasting Howard/Ruddock and Rudd in their treatment past and future of boat people, but I cannot. I suspect Rundle's real target audience here was Kevin Rudd. His essay was essentially an encouraging homily directed at the Prime Minister, not an analysis.

Granted, Howard was full of dark xenophobic attitudes which I do not think Rudd as a civilised person shares. However, my detailed analysis of how Australian policy towards boat people degenerated during the prolonged boat people crisis of 1999-2001 (see my book A Certain Maritime Incident and later follow-up writings) shows a more complex picture than Rundle offers.

Howard and key senior officials pushed the border protection agencies (Defence Central and ADF, AFP, DIMIA, AMSA, DFAT) towards tougher and tougher policies aimed at discouraging boat people and disrupting their movements. These policies started with bluffs and phoney threats of crocodiles, sharks, towbacks etc. They finished with clear systemic human rights violations in laws and procedures.

Very real questions have never been answered as to whether people (including the 353 mostly women and children on SIEV X) died as a result of increasingly harsh policies of forced towback, impoundment after interception in their own boats for prolonged periods under stress and danger, and deliberately delayed, perfunctory, or non-existent search and rescue procedures for anticipated or detected boats.

Attitudes engendered by these callous policies sank deep into the culture of the agencies concerned, and are still apparently present there as seen in a recent interception incident.

I know from my research into SIEV X -- and this is confirmed by Marr and Wilkinson’s independent analysis in Dark Victory -- that Howard and key Canberra officials led the agencies along this road to perdition one step at a time, as the pressure of boat people numbers increased through 1999-2001. There was quiet resistance on the way from some honourable officers. How far the agencies went along the road, in terms of outcomes, is something that only a judicial enquiry with access to all records of the time could answer.

Labor in government is not pursuing this matter, choosing to let sleeping dogs lie.

I do not assume that under pressure of a possible increase in boat people numbers, an Australian Labor government would not start down the same slippery slope of escalating threats and disruptions. Maybe it has started already? I can only hope, with Guy Rundle, that it will not go as far as Howard did. Sadly, those who care about Australia’s ethical standards must remain vigilant, as well as hopeful that Labor will go on doing the right thing.