'Tampa boys' relish freedom to vote

The "Tampa boys" savour another freedom next week.

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.

They were aged between 14 and 18 and travelling without their families when, in 2001, they were plucked from their sinking Indonesian fishing boat by the Norwegian freighter Tampa.

They were among 433 people rescued, 133 of whom were taken in by New Zealand after Australia refused asylum.

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."

Mr Safdari knows who he is voting for - Labour.

Julie Sutherland, the boys' former Child, Youth and Family supervisor and their great mate now they are independent, suspects many of them will do the same.

Many Tampa refugees identify strongly with Prime Minister Helen Clark, she explains, as the Labour leader was the face of the decision to give shelter and has kept in touch.

Afghani culture has a strong culture of reciprocity, the boys say: if you are given something, you return the favour.

Says Mr Sahar: "They helped us, now we are the ones who are going to help them."

Mr Ehklasi, whose parents have joined him in Mangere and who will vote for the first time next week, says he has decided which party he will back, but in fine Kiwi tradition isn't giving anything away. "Every candidate has some good ideas."

Voting the first time, he says, is "interesting - I never thought this was going to happen in my life".

Decision-making, says Ms Sutherland, doesn't come easy to young men who grew up in a repressed society where choices in all spheres of life were few.

When the boys were sent to Selwyn College, they were encouraged to express themselves and weigh up choices, from what clothes to wear to what they should do on a special occasion: "These were experiences they hadn't had before."

Although the boys came to understand New Zealand-style egalitarianism swiftly, says Ms Sutherland, they are still learning democracy's workings. They tend to think any change of government will lead to wholesale, and negative, overnight change.

"Most of their neighbours are good to them and friendly," she says. "They worry that a change of government will change attitudes.

"Labour has supported them, their education, their families coming to New Zealand, so everyone else must be the negative of that. That [attitude] will change in time."

Quiz the boys on their political concerns and they all cite threats by National and New Zealand First to curb family reunification policies for migrants and refugees.