Good news Saturday
09.10.05 (1:05 pm) [edit]
I'm a bit late with Good news Saturday this week, given that it is, strictly speaking, already Sunday, but I do have something to share.
Back in 2001, 433 people were rescued from the sinking Indonesian fishing boat in which they were trying to reach Australia to claim asylum by the Norwegian freighter Tampa. It was big news at the time, with Australia refusing to accept any of the survivors as refugees. New Zealand, on the other hand, along with the tiny Pacific island of Nauru, took in significant numbers of the refugees. Of the 133 who came to New Zealand, 40 were Afghani teenage boys travelling without their parents. They became known as the "Tampa boys".
And this is where the news gets good. All 40 of the Tampa boys are now over 18 and all of them are registered on the electoral roll to cast their votes in next Saturday's general election. The New Zealand Herald has the full story. [Hat-tip to No Right Turn]
Now isn't that good news? Having been granted asylum, these young men have been helped to fit in to and to participate in New Zealand society. They are enjoying freedoms in New Zealand which at the time they left their home country they could only have dreamed of. Some of them have jobs. One has even represented New Zealand in football (soccer). They are being given opportunities which they would otherwise have been denied. That is exactly how the asylum system is supposed to work. And that, if you ask me, is good news indeed.
Back in 2001, 433 people were rescued from the sinking Indonesian fishing boat in which they were trying to reach Australia to claim asylum by the Norwegian freighter Tampa. It was big news at the time, with Australia refusing to accept any of the survivors as refugees. New Zealand, on the other hand, along with the tiny Pacific island of Nauru, took in significant numbers of the refugees. Of the 133 who came to New Zealand, 40 were Afghani teenage boys travelling without their parents. They became known as the "Tampa boys".
And this is where the news gets good. All 40 of the Tampa boys are now over 18 and all of them are registered on the electoral roll to cast their votes in next Saturday's general election. The New Zealand Herald has the full story. [Hat-tip to No Right Turn]
Every one of the 40 young men who came to New Zealand as frightened refugees from Afghanistan are on the electoral roll and now eligible to vote; for 33 of them it will be the first time.
...
Several of the older boys voted in 2002, but this year all are of age. In a poignant coincidence, their homeland, still racked by violence, goes to its own polls the day after to elect its first democratic parliament.
If the five Tampa boys who spoke to the Herald - Reza Ehklasi, 21; Amir Noori, 21; Safar Sahar, 20; Assad Nazari, 20, and Zakaria Safdari, 19 - are representative, they won't waste their right to vote. They are surprised to learn that some New Zealanders don't bother.
Pakuranga-based Mr Safdari, who is about to start working as a service station manager, says voting "defines your rights. You are part of the country".
Mr Ehklasi , a leather worker who was able to vote in 2002, says: "If you don't like the Government but you haven't voted, you can't complain. With your vote you can tell someone what to do for you."
Now isn't that good news? Having been granted asylum, these young men have been helped to fit in to and to participate in New Zealand society. They are enjoying freedoms in New Zealand which at the time they left their home country they could only have dreamed of. Some of them have jobs. One has even represented New Zealand in football (soccer). They are being given opportunities which they would otherwise have been denied. That is exactly how the asylum system is supposed to work. And that, if you ask me, is good news indeed.
posted by: Miss Behaviour (reply)
post date: 09.11.05 (10:13 am)
that's good and uplifting news indeed. Too rarely the press focuses on people who enter other countries to become successes who make positive contributions.
posted by: BerlinBear (reply)
post date: 09.11.05 (10:47 am)
Reply to: Miss Behaviour
Quite agree, my dear.
posted by: lindy (reply)
post date: 09.12.05 (11:58 am)
I love this post. Bully for New Zealand. Is Australia typically closed off to such a situation that you know of? Did they give reason for their refusal?
posted by: BerlinBear (reply)
post date: 09.14.05 (11:49 pm)
Reply to: lindy
Cool eh? And yes, Australia is typically closed off in this way. It has some of the tightest immigration regulations in the world, and they are designed to favour white Europeans. I can't recall what their excuse was in this particular case, but a quick Google search ought to provide the answer, since it caused a big kerfulffle at the time, especially since the refugees were starving and had no water on the ship which picked them up while the Australians dicked around and forbade the ship from entering its waters.
posted by: lindy (reply)
post date: 09.15.05 (4:52 am)
Reply to: BerlinBear
Oh dear. Thumbs down to them on that one. That's too bad. I wonder how such people sleep at night, I really do.
