Australia calls for release of Suu Kyi

By Sandra O'Malley

Australia has called for the immediate release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi after Burmese authorities sent her to prison over an unauthorised visit by an American.

The 63-year-old, who has lately been in poor health, has been under house arrest for the past two decades.

She was sent to the notorious Insein prison on Thursday after being charged over an incident in which an American man swam across a lake to visit her house.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith expressed grave concern over the latest chapter in Ms Suu Kyi's incarceration.

"It is Australia's longstanding position - shared by governments of both political persuasions - that she should be released immediately and unconditionally and I repeat that today," he told parliament.

Ms Suu Kyi has spent most of the past 19 years detained in virtual isolation in her crumbling compound since the Burmese military junta refused to recognise her National League for Democracy's landslide victory in the country's last elections in 1990.

Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Julie Bishop told parliament the military junta had ignored the will of the majority of Burmese people.

Ms Bishop travelled to Burma in 1995 and met Ms Suu Kyi.

Ms Suu Kyi said at the time that she was "a prisoner in her own country".

She said it seemed "the Burmese regime is determined to make that a reality".

The junta was "unparalleled" for its human rights abuses against Burmese people.

"The world must engage in greater levels of diplomacy and other actions to ensure that Aung San Suu Kyi is freed and that freedom and democracy is returned to the people of Burma," Ms Bishop said.

'70,000 Indians migrated to Australia in last decade'

Australia has witnessed a massive influx of Asians in the last decade, with India and China together accounting for almost one-fifth of the new arrivals in the country during the period.

Between 1996 and 2006, India and China together accounted for over 1.5 lakh of the total jump in immigrants to this country.

According to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the number of Indians arriving in the country between 1996 and 2006 increased by 70,000, while the number of people from European countries fell over the same period.

The highest increase in the number of immigrants, however, was witnessed from China, ABS's report 'Portait of a Nation' based on the Australian census of 2006 said.

The number of Chinese people on the move to Australia between 1996 and 2006 increased by 96,000.

While the movement of Asians is on the rise, the number of Europeans crossing in to Australia has been found to be declining though Europe still continues to provide the highest number of foreign-born residents to Australia.

Though 24 per cent of the immigrants or 92,000 still arrived from the UK, the report said that 35,000 fewer people came from the country. The data also showed that 4.4 million people in Australia were born overseas.

Besides China and India, other Asian countries that saw an increase in the number of people moving to Australia are South Korea, Malaysia and the Philippines.

Asian-born immigrants now account for 27 per cent of the foreign-born population of Australia and 60 per cent of all immigrants now on the move to Australia are from Asian countries.