The brutal nature of the Rudd Labor government's "Indonesian solution" to deal with asylum seekers was revealed on November 15 when the Indonesian coastguard fired upon a boat carrying 61 Afghan asylum seekers headed towards Australia. Two of the passengers were shot and injured.
Indonesian police said the shooting was to stop the passengers on board the boat from "escaping". Later, the story became that the Afghan men were threatening the ship's captain, demanding he continue sailing toward Australia.
The Australian government's sympathy was limited. Finance minister Lindsay Tanner said the event was "regrettable". No effort was made to intervene — the boat had not reached Australian waters. The Afghan refugees were taken to a detention centre in West Timor.
However, the Indonesian coastguard pursued the asylum seekers' vessel in an Australian-supplied fast boat, ABC Online said on November 16. It is likely the boat was bought using money from Australia's recent funding boost to Indonesia to "tackle people smuggling".
The government has been spending big to equip, train and compel Indonesia to pursue, detain and even deport asylum seekers before they get anywhere near Australia.
In the May budget, $1.3 billion was devoted to border protection efforts, including $654 million to boost surveillance in Australia's northern waters and in so-called "source and transit countries".
Then-home affairs minister Bob Debus said Australia was building a system to intercept vessels in Australian waters, but also to "improve Australia's engagement and co-ordination efforts in the region to stop people-smuggling before the ventures reach our borders".
But as more boats leave Indonesia, containing refugees desperately hoping for a chance to resettle in Australia, the veneer of the "Indonesian solution" is beginning to crumble.
The Australian government has reportedly offered to pay $50 million to Indonesia's government if it agrees to process refugees headed for Australia on Indonesian soil. Yet pushing Australia's anti-refugee strategy into the hands of Indonesia will not stop boats from coming. It will only force Indonesia to resort to increasingly drastic measures. It will only make the refugees' journeys more dangerous.
The boat of Tamil refugees that sank off the Cocos Islands on November 2 is one tragic example of the consequences. Twelve people died when the boat failed to make it all the way across the Indian Ocean to Australia.
It's possible the refugees tried the longer boat journey to avoid stopping in Indonesia knowing they could be persecuted or even fdeported back to Sri Lanka.
The victims of the November 15 shooting were trying to avoid arrest by Indonesian authorities. Arrest would mean a return to a hopeless situation.
Many asylum seekers in Indonesia await resettlement arranged by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), but it's a process that can take years and has no guarantees.
And Indonesia is not a safe place to wait. It is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention, which states no one seeking protection is illegal. But the detention and denial of human rights to asylum seekers in Indonesia is well documented.
The 78 Tamil refugees who staged a month-long occupation aboard the Australian customs ship Oceanic Viking knew how bad Indonesian detention was. They risked a harrowing journey in an unsafe boat to escape such a limbo.
But when their boat ran into trouble and they sent out a distress signal, the Oceanic Viking responded to the call. However, it didn't bring them to Australia; it turned back to Indonesia.
The Oceanic Viking headed straight for the Tanjung Pinang detention centre to transfer the refugees into Indonesian custody. The asylum seekers went to great lengths — including a hunger strike, threats of self-harm and repeated pleas for Australia's help — to avoid it.
The Australian government eventually struck a deal to resettle them. After more than a month, the last refugees left the ship on November 18. But the terms of the agreement were rife with manipulation and deceit.
Reports on the timeframe offered for resettlement have varied, from six weeks to 12, to four. And immigration minister Chris Evans made it clear the Australian promise to resettle them didn't mean they would be resettled in Australia.
The Tamils were taken into custody and detained in the Tanjung Pinang detention centre. The facility was recently in the media for allegations of mistreatment and appalling conditions.
Before the 78 refugees entered, about 80 were already imprisoned there. Afghan refugees inside have said they have been waiting from two to six months. The UNHCR had visited, but is not in regular contact with the inmates.
In October, ABC journalists were denied access inside the detention centre. Refugees told them from inside that at times there is no electricity or air conditioning. Outside exercise is not permitted and beatings took place at night, they said.
"We are being denied civil rights", one said from behind barred windows, reported ABC Online on October 23.
The federal opposition and the media have condemned the "special treatment" the 78 refugees have received to end the impasse.
But the "special treatment" should stand to highlight the horrendous treatment of asylum seekers in Indonesia and the racist anti-refugee stand of both of Australia's big political parties.
The Australian government has offered no deal at all to the 260 Tamils, including children, still holding out on a boat moored in Merak, West Java. They have been declared Indonesia's problem. The refugees have refused to disembark in any country that has not signed the UN refugee convention.
As conditions on board worsened, Indonesian officials threatened to end the six-week long standoff by force. The refugees cannot go back to Sri Lanka for fear of persecution, but the prospect of indefinite detention in Indonesia has incited similar anxiety.
Some already hold UNHCR refugee cards, but the November 16 Sydney Morning Herald said the department of foreign affairs was "working on deporting them".
Indonesia "was prepared to force many of the 255 Sri Lankans on to a navy warship to return them to the country they have fled".
But on November 19, the SMH said Indonesian officials had backed away from the threat and would instead allow the UNHCR to process the asylum seekers.
The Tamils have criticised Indonesia for not allowing UNHCR officials access to the ship until now. The media have been kept away as well.
However, the Indonesian Working People's Association managed to visit them and released details of the Merak refugees circumstances on November 18.
A torn tarpaulin covering most of the deck has not kept out the persistent heavy rain. Food and water is now cruelly limited and sometimes does not turn up until people are starving.
A 24-year-old man on board collapsed on November 18, suspected to be suffering from cholera, dysentery or typhoid. The 31 children on the boat are suffering from weight loss, along with cases of pneumonia, fever and diarrhoea.
The potential for the refugees to be deported back to Sri Lanka remains.
The group issued another plea on November 18 for solidarity and for the Australian government to help them.
"There are reports that those of us without UNHCR ID's may be deported to Sri Lanka by the Indonesian government", it said. "Deportation to Sri Lanka would put us in certain danger and would be a fundamental breach of the refugee convention.
"The Australian government can ensure our safety. We are not on an Australian boat, but we are the same as the 78 on the Oceanic Viking. We are refugees and should be treated equally."