Abridged Voyage

Abridged Voyage

Introduction

Human smuggling is very tormenting and increasing problem for Australia. Most of the people are smuggled on boats using the Indonesia or Malaysia as the transit route. Thousand of people are smuggled to Australia every year through Indonesia and Malaysia. Most of the smuggled people belong to the Third World countries, such as Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Bangladesh. We are going to discuss here the story of Ardi, a very poor and illiterate fisherman from Indonesia, who has been detained by the Australian authorities for the crime of human smuggling.

Discussion

Ardi was poor boy who used to live with his parents in Nusa Tenggara, an island in the south-east region of Indonesia. The island is very poor and under-developed, and all of its population belongs to the fishing occupation, most of being illiterate. The father of Ardi passed away when he was 10. His elder brother, Kamarudin, used to live in Sulawesi, so he went along his mother to live with his brother. His family lived a life of poverty for six years. Ardi's mother died in 2009, and left her family in debts as she suffered from long illness.

Ardi had to earn now for himself and for his nephew and two nieces. There was a tradition of Merantu (to move away and find one's fortune) in the tribes of Sulawesi. Ardi also decide to move away from his home. He had no education, money, and did not own any boat, so that he could have his living from fishing. He was vexed and much worried how to pay the debts of his family. He happened to meet a man named Anjas near the Kampung Tengah's harbor. He advised Ardi to just to give up the plans of to be fisherman, and to work in ferrying the foreigners and ...