The Jakarta Globe, January 9, 2014.
Jakarta/Kupang. Critics in Indonesia have denounced the turning back of an asylum-seeker boat by Australia’s navy as part of its hard-line policy on people smuggling, calling it a violation of Indonesia’s sovereignty.
Susaningtyas Nefo Handayani Kertopati, a member of the House of Representatives’ oversight commission on international affairs, said in Jakarta on Wednesday that Indonesia needed a stern response to what she called Australia’s “extreme attitude” in dealing with the problem of people smuggling.
“The government should not be ambivalent or hesitant in addressing Australia’s extreme attitude. It must deal with it seriously,” she said.
She added that the least the Australian government could do in the wake of the towback incident last month was to offer to host ministerial-level talks to smooth over any misunderstandings.
Susaningtyas, from the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura), warned that if Indonesia let this incident slide without taking a serious stance, the asylum-seeker problems would only become more frequent and more severe.
“Of course Indonesia stands to lose out in such a situation, when it’s Australia that these immigrants are ultimately hoping to reach,” she said.
Forty-five asylum seekers, mostly from Sudan and Somalia, were rescued by Indonesian authorities in Rote Ndao, East Nusa Tenggara province, after their boat ran aground on Dec. 19, having run out of fuel after being turned by the Australian navy.
Canberra has refused to confirm the incident, with Immigration Minister Scott Morrison citing “operational security reasons.”
The asylum seekers, including nine women, were earlier this week sent from Rote Ndao to Kupang, the East Nusa Tenggara capital, to be held at the immigration detention center there.
Yusuf Ibrahim, one of the asylum seekers, claimed that Australian navy personnel had tortured some of them when they boarded their boat, held them at sea for one and a half days with no food, and breached Indonesia’s maritime border when escorting them back.
“Four of our people were forced by the Australian soldiers to go into the engine room and touch the exhaust pipe until they suffered burns. Another person was kicked and suffered bruises to his thigh and his arm,” Ibrahim told reporters at the Rote Ndao Police headquarters.
He also showed a GPS navigation device that he claimed showed that the Australian fleet of three warships that had intercepted their boat entered into Indonesian waters just seven nautical miles, or 13 kilometers, from the Rote Ndao coast when sending them back.
The Indonesian skipper and crew of the asylum-seeker boat abandoned ship soon after it had been cast adrift, and are now the subject of a manhunt, police said.
The towback has infuriated Jakarta, with Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa saying on Tuesday that it was “no solution” to the problem of people smuggling from Indonesia to Australia.
“If we all practice the same thing, when will the issue end?” he said.
The issue has also riled opponents of Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Australia.
“We’ve got a situation where a boat has been towed back by Australian officers, the boat has run aground,” Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young told ABC radio.
“These people could have drowned. How many other boats has this occurred to that we’ve never heard about?”
Hundreds of people have died in fatal sinkings in recent years, often after boarding rickety, wooden boats in Indonesia to try and make the treacherous sea crossing to Australia.
Gen. Moeldoko, the Indonesian Military (TNI) commander, said on Tuesday that part of the problem was the Indonesian-imposed suspension on cooperation with Australia on the people-smuggling issue, among others, as a result of revelations last November of spying by Canberra on Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in 2009.
He said he had received a call from his Australian counterpart about last month’s towback and was told that Australia would remain consistent in its policy toward vessels attempting to enter its territory illegally.
“Our naval patrols are obviously no longer coordinating with Australia, which has given rise to this latest incident,” Moeldoko said. “Australia’s military commander explained to me that any people-smuggling boats arriving from Indonesia would be turned back to Indonesian waters.”
He added the Australians had offered the explanation to “smooth over any misunderstanding that this issue may prompt” in Indonesia, and said Canberra’s stance was understandable.
“I believe it’s a reasonable [policy]. I also appreciate their willingness” to communicate about it, the TNI chief said.
Marty conceded that full restoration of ties with Australia on the people-smuggling issue would take time to restore in the wake of the spying revelations.
“Diplomacy, foreign affairs and the relations among nations is a process, not an event, or something that can be simply restored by several declarations,” he said.
“What’s needed is a gradual restoration of confidence and trust.”
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do 9 jan 2014 - 2:44