Batoor
هزارگی

Seeking Asylum

Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012. 19 photographs.

© Barat Ali Batoor, Seeking Asylum, 2012.

Photography

In September 2012, after death threats in Kabul, Batoor left with a camera and a phone. He photographed the smugglers' houses in Kuala Lumpur and Bogor, the 21-hour drive across Sumatra, and the fishing boat that carried 93 people towards Christmas Island until the weather turned and it broke on the rocks of Ujung Kulon. The first day at sea won the inaugural Nikon-Walkley Photo of the Year in 2013. The captions are his own, written for TED in 2015.
Place
Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean
Years
2012
Photographs
19
Shown at
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First published: The Global Mail, 2013. Every licence is confirmed against the rights on the individual photograph before it is granted.

  1. A man in a hooded top watches a small wooden boat cross a wide brown river at the Thailand to Malaysia border, 2012.

    10 It was a desperate decision to leave everything behind. I flew to Thailand and waited for four days to be taken to Malaysia. With three other men seeking asylum, I crossed at the border by boat and was picked up on the other side by Malaysian smugglers. We traveled for five and a half hours by car to Kuala Lumpur, with our heads kept between our knees the whole time to be avoid being seen. I paid $1000 US for this leg of the trip.

  2. Asylum seekers sitting on the floor of a bare room in Kuala Lumpur, palms turned upward in prayer, 2012.

    11 In Kuala Lumpur we were kept under house arrest for three nights. We couldn’t even look out of the window. Here my fellow asylum seekers pray not to drown or be arrested.

  3. Men resting on a mat in a dark timber house in Sumatra, banknotes on the floor between them, 2012.

    12 Next we were taken to Sumatra, Indonesia, where we rested for a few hours in this house before being crammed into a car for a 21-hour nonstop ride with the windows kept locked. We were taken to an airport, where one of our smugglers had arranged boarding passes for us to get to Jakarta. The total cost of the trip from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta was $2500.

  4. A man tries on a yellow life jacket in a crowded room while another adjusts the straps, Indonesia, 2012.

    13 It’s common for smugglers to make false promises, about how clean and spacious the boats are, how there’s bottled water and great life jackets. So asylum seekers that eventually make it will call back home to warn their friends and family: Be prepared, because there’s nothing on the boat. In anticipation, my friend Ali paid $120 for an upgraded life jacket. I bought one too.

  5. Two young men on a mattress in the villa at Bogor, one awake and one asleep, 2012.

    14 In Bogor, a town outside Jakarta, we stayed in a villa friendly to asylum seekers, where I met Jafar, pictured here with me, sleeping. About a week into my stay, he and my other two roommates (one of whom took this picture) were preparing to leave on their voyage, and they asked if I wanted to leave early and join them. I almost went, but decided to wait. It was my fate: Their boat sank, and only Jafar lived. I was shocked and terrified about what would happen to me.

  6. Silhouettes of people boarding a small boat at night, lit only by a distant orange glow, 2012.

    15 The night we got the call that our boat was ready, we were shepherded onto a small speed boat that was to take us to a larger fishing boat anchored at sea. We got lost, it took more than an hour to find the fishing boat, which was already crowded. The other 92 passengers and I hoped we would make it to Christmas Island, Australia, where we would wait to have our refugee status assessed. The cost to get there was $6000.

  7. Men look up through an open hatch from below the deck of a wooden fishing boat at sea, others standing above, 2012.

    16 The boat was tiny for how many of us there were. We had to hide below deck to avoid being seen and take shifts to get fresh air. Underneath the deck, the all-male passengers were mostly praying. I didn’t have time to pray, I just took photos.

  8. Two men in orange life jackets aboard the boat in rough grey seas, 2012.

    17 By the second night of the voyage, the weather turned. People were crying, praying, recalling their loved ones. As water poured into the boat, we all lost hope. We thought it was really the end. I thought about how I had given my life for nothing, that if I had another chance to live I wouldn’t have taken the boat. We were watching our deaths.

  9. People on the boat waving red life jackets at a stormy sky to attract a passing ship, Indian Ocean, 2012.

    18 The captain announced we would have to turn back, and we climbed on deck and waved our jackets to attract attention from anyone passing by. Asylum seekers who had gone before us had warned us that if a boat got into trouble the crew might try to escape with makeshift rafts, so we assigned men to keep guard over them. All our fears of getting caught by the police were gone, in fact that would have helped us. We just wanted to survive.

  10. People in orange life jackets wading ashore through shallow water towards the jungle at Ujung Kulon, 2012.

    19 In the end, the crew didn’t abandon us and got everyone to safety. We all made it to the coast of Ujung Kulon, a remote peninsula at the extreme western end of Java, our boat crashing onto the rocks. Here you can see people running into the jungle to avoid being captured by local police. I slipped into the water and destroyed my camera. Thankfully, my memory card survived.

  11. Seeking Asylum, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012. Photograph 11 of 19.

    1 Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012

  12. Seeking Asylum, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012. Photograph 12 of 19.

    2 Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012

  13. Seeking Asylum, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012. Photograph 13 of 19.

    3 Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012

  14. Seeking Asylum, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012. Photograph 14 of 19.

    4 Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012

  15. Seeking Asylum, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012. Photograph 15 of 19.

    5 Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012

  16. Seeking Asylum, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012. Photograph 16 of 19.

    6 Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012

  17. Seeking Asylum, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012. Photograph 17 of 19.

    7 Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012

  18. Seeking Asylum, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012. Photograph 18 of 19.

    8 Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012

  19. Seeking Asylum, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012. Photograph 19 of 19.

    9 Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Indian Ocean, 2012

All photographs © Barat Ali Batoor. Captions in his own words, from ideas.ted.com, April 2015.

Next series

Refugees in Indonesia

Refugees in Indonesia

Bogor and Cisarua, West Java, 2012 to 2013