Thousands stranded are 'illegal labourers, not refugees', Indonesia tells Australia

Indonesia has told Australia most of the 7000 boat people stranded in the region are illegal workers, not refugees

A handout photo provided by the Myanmar Information Ministry shows Myanmar police officers on a fishing boat with migrants at western coast, Rakhine, Myanmar, 22 May 2015. The Myanmar navy rescued a boat loaded with 219 migrants, most of them from Bangladesh, according to a government website. Source: MYANMAR INFORMATION MINISTRY

Most of the boat people stranded at sea off Indonesia are not Rohingya refugees but illegal labourers from Bangladesh, Indonesian officials have reportedly told Australia.

The Australian reports Foreign Minister Julie Bishop met with other foreign ministers in Seoul, where Indonesian officials passed on their intelligence about the stranded migrants.

"They (Indonesia) believe there are about 7000 people at sea (and) they think about 30-40 per cent are Rohingya, the rest are Bangladeshi; and they are not, in Indonesia's words, asylum-seekers, they are not refugees, they are illegal labourers, they've been promised or are seeking jobs in Malaysia," Ms Bishop told The Australian on Saturday.