A boatload of asylum-seekers picked up by a Singaporean merchant vessel after a distress call were Thursday accused of acting like pirates after forcing the captain to take them to Australia.
The Singapore-flagged MV Parsifal picked up the 67 asylum-seekers from a people-smuggling ship off the Indonesian island of Java on Monday in response to a distress call relayed by Australian authorities.
It intended to continue on to Singapore with the group but Canberra's Home Affairs Minister Jason Clare said they became "very aggressive" when learning of the plan and insisted he take them to Australia's Christmas Island.
"The master of the ship made the decision to turn the vessel around and head to Christmas Island," Clare told ABC radio.
"The captain rang the Australian Maritime Safety Authority to tell them of his intentions, and he made the point that he was concerned for his crew's safety."
The Parsifal's Norwegian owners Wallenius Marine later issued a statement explaining that the asylum-seekers had threatened self-harm and there was "no physical aggression" towards the crew.
"The master decided that they could pose a security threat to the Parsifal's crew and vessel," Wallenius said in a statement.
Once they were advised that the ship would proceed to Christmas Island, a remote Australian territory, Wallenius said the asylum-seekers "calmed down immediately".
Opposition immigration spokesman Scott Morrison said the group should be investigated by Australian police for piracy, describing their behaviour as "outrageous".
A police spokeswoman told AFP investigators had spoken to some of the asylum-seekers and to the Parsifal's captain, who had indicated that he "did not wish to pursue this matter at this time".
Prime Minister Julia Gillard conceded that if there had been "a breach of any relevant laws then of course it has to be properly investigated", but said the "time for political argy-bargy" on the boatpeople issue had passed.
Clare said the group could be among the first sent to remote Nauru or Papua New Guinea's Manus Island under a punitive new policy to detain asylum-seekers offshore currently being debated in the upper house of parliament.
If passed as expected by the Senate the new measures will let Australia send asylum-seekers who arrive by boat to remote Pacific outposts for processing without a time limit on their detention.
Canberra hopes the new approach will act as a deterrent to the record tide of people-smuggling boats from Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
The new laws represent a return to the harsh refugee policies of the former conservative government, which were rolled back by Gillard's centre-left Labor when it won power in 2007.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asylum-seekers-force-singapore-ship-australia-064359666.html
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