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Australia insists Indonesia must deal with migrants
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Colombo News Desk CND on 29 October, 2009 12:09:00
 
The 78 migrants who were rescued by the Australian ship in Indonesian waters
last week are the first test of a new agreement on asylum seekers announced by
Indonesia and Australia last week.
Designed to stem the flow of boat people to Australia by processing more of them
in Indonesia, a major transit country, the deal was close to coming unstuck at
the first hurdle as the Sri Lankans refused to cooperate.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said the migrants would be processed
in Indonesia according to the agreement, despite their refusal to cooperate.
"There were always going to be humanitarian, refugee, or immigration
implications," Smith told public broadcaster ABC.
"Those implications will be resolved in Indonesia on Indonesian soil, because
that's the agreement we have with the Indonesian government."
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd did not rule out using force to disembark
the Sri Lankans, who include five women and five children.
"Let's just be frank about it, we are dealing with a complex, difficult and
challenging set of circumstances," Rudd said.
"I have confidence that our men and women ... will discharge their professional
responsibilities with the greatest degree of skill and tact, and humanity."
Indonesian foreign ministry spokesman Teuku Faizasyah said the migrants were
refusing to leave the Australian boat and were insisting on being taken to
Australia to have their asylum claims processed.
"We sent officials yesterday to process the migrants according to our law... but
they have refused to follow our procedures. We couldn't force them," he said.
Indonesia agreed to accept the migrants on humanitarian grounds after they were
rescued in Indonesian territorial waters off the coast of Sumatra island.
The Sri Lankans were originally due to be delivered to a port on Java island
last week but were diverted to Bintan, near Singapore, amid confusion over how
to deal with them and where they should be accommodated.
The Australian customs vessel Oceanic Viking has been anchored off Bintan since
Monday morning, and has permission to stay until Friday, Indonesian officials
said.
The security chief at Indonesia's foreign ministry, Sujatmiko, told AFP the
migrants would not be forced off the boat.
"We can't force them to disembark as that's against international law," he said.
Under the "framework agreement" announced last week, Australia has reportedly
offered millions of dollars to help Indonesia accommodate asylum seekers in
exchange for greater efforts to stop them sailing to Australia.
But the so-called "Indonesian Solution" is already under fire over reports of
overcrowding and abuse in Indonesian detention centres while they await
processing by UN refugee officials.
There also appears to be little support for the idea in Indonesia, which has no
law against people smuggling and is not a signatory to the 1951 UN refugees
convention.
The governor of Riau province, which includes Bintan, said Tuesday his region
was not a "dumping ground" for refugees.
Australia's centre-left government has come under fire for being too "soft" on
boatpeople following a sharp increase in the number of unlawful arrivals this
year, mainly through Indonesia.
Another 250 Australia-bound Sri Lankan migrants are refusing to leave a wooden
cargo vessel in Merek, Java, after they were intercepted by the Indonesian navy
earlier this month.