Indonesia stance may put asylum 'deal' at risk

9 Nov 2009, 9:15 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Indonesia says it won't accept the 78 stay-put Sri Lankan asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking unless they agree to enter a local detention centre.

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Indonesia says it won't accept the 78 stay-put Sri Lankan asylum seekers aboard the Oceanic Viking unless they agree to enter a local detention centre.

It is a stand that could jeopardise a resolution to the two-week-old impasse.

Reports on Monday said Australia was close to securing a deal that would see the Tamils enter community housing on the Indonesian island of Bintan to await fast-tracked resettlement.

But senior Indonesian diplomat Dr Sujatmiko said Jakarta had told Australia that community housing was not an option.

"Definitely no," Dr Sujatmiko told reporters. "As far as I'm concerned, we have made it clear to the Australian government that if the Sri Lankan refugees are ready to disembark from the vessel we will accommodate them in the immigration detention centre in (Bintan's) Tanjung Pinang."

Even if the Tamils agree to enter the detention centre, the central government still has to convince local authorities to allow it, Dr Sujatmiko said. Indonesia remained committed to helping Australia solve the impasse, now in its third week, but it would not give the Oceanic Viking another extension once its security clearance expired on Friday, he said.

Australian embassy officials on Monday again visited the ship, which has begun using a powerful water hose to keep Australian and Indonesian media from communicating with the asylum seekers.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Australia would remain patient. "Let me be absolutely clear that policy of ours in the Australian national interest will not be changed in response to any protests, any threats, any threats of harm, and threats of self harm," Mr Rudd told reporters in Bathurst. "

We will take as long as it takes to resolve this matter and any other matters into the future."

His comments came as Foreign Minister Stephen Smith met his Sri Lankan counterpart in Colombo for talks on how to stem the flow of asylum seekers. Immigration Minister Chris Evans said Australia was poised to provide Sri Lanka with ongoing assistance to reconstruct the country after years of civil war.

"We've obviously provided a lot of aid already and the idea is to work with them to ensure the Tamil people feel safe, so they are able to be moved out of those camps and settle and rebuild their lives," he said. Meanwhile, 10 Tamil women among a group of 250 refusing to leave their boat in Java, began another hunger strike on Monday.

The Tamils, who were intercepted by the Indonesian navy en route to Australia on October 11, have now spent four weeks aboard the rickety wooden boat moored in the Javanese port city of Merak.

They say they will come ashore after they meet with a representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees but claim the Indonesian government is refusing to allow such a meeting.

The fresh hunger strike - an earlier one ended after just two days - came as the spokesman for the group, known as Alex, confessed he was once a member of a violent gang in Canada and was jailed for making death threats.

The developments came amid mixed poll results for Mr Rudd in relation to the asylum seeker issue.

A Newspoll, published on Monday, showed 53 per cent of people thought the government was doing a bad job of handling the influx of asylum seekers. But a Nielsen poll, also published on Monday, found Australians were more evenly split with 45 per cent approving of Mr Rudd's handling of the issue.

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Your Comments

Asylum Seekers

David - from Killarney Heights Sydney, 3 years ago

Mr. Rudd has no one but himself to blame for the refugee problem currently being encountered. He should have left the policy of the previous government in place - it had been proven to be successful in "stemming the tide" of asylum seekers. His government's claims that changed circumstances (in Sri Lanka and Afghanistan) have resulted in the increase in “unauthorised” arrivals don't hold water.

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