SRI LANKAN BOAT PEOPLE IN LIMBO AS AUSSIE CLOSES DOOR by Fardah

Jakarta, April 20, 2010 (ANTARA) - About a week after the Australian government decided to tighten its door close, immigration authorities transferred 134 Sri Lankan immigrants in Banten to the Tanjungpinang immigration detention center in Riau Islands.

The Sri Lankan refugees had so far been held in their boat at Indah Kiat harbor, Banten, since October 2009. They had refused to leave their boat for six months during which they kept on insisting on being allowed to travel to Australia.

But the immigrants are now in limbo following the Australian government`s announcement about the suspension of any new asylum claims from Sri Lanka or Afghanistan.

"After negotiating with them since Monday morning, we finally managed to persuade the more than one hundred immigrants to move to the Tanjungpinang immigration detention center temporarily while waiting for a verification process by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM)," Sujarmiko, the Indonesian foreign affairs ministry`s security diplomatic security director, said in Tanjungpinang, Monday evening.

The immigrants who consisted of 30 children and adult females plus 74 men were airlifted by two Sriwijaya Air planes sent from Jakarta, on Monday evening (April 19).

"We did not want them to stay at Indah Kiat harbor any longer because it was unhealthy for them there, and their presence was affecting economic activities at the seaport," Sujatmiko said.

However, a pregnant immigrant and her husband and child were moved to Jakarta, while a sick immigrant was admitted to Krakatau Steel Hospital in Banten.

Sujatmiko hoped the verification process by UNHRC could be completed soon and the UN body could find a third country that was willing to receive the Sri Lankans.

At the Tanjungpinang detention center which was built with Australian assistance, the Sri Lankan immigrants joined 231 other immigrants from several Asian countries.

"We still have enough space. Currently the detention center accommodates 365 people, while the center`s accommodation capacity is for 400 to 600 people ," Sugiyo said.

Effective April 9, 2010, asylum seekers from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will not have their claims assessed for three months (Sri Lanka) or six months (Afghanistan), a press statement from the Australian government said as posted on the official website of the Australian embassy in Jakarta.

Australia collaborates closely with a range of Indonesian agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Directorate-General of Immigration, the Indonesian Navy and the Indonesian Maritime Security Coordinating Board to deter people smuggling ventures and irregular migration and welcomes the cooperation both countries share, it said.

The suspensions will be reviewed at the end of these periods. The Australian Government is also taking additional steps to crack down on people smugglers and those who finance them.

The Australian Government expects that the combined effect of this suspension and the changing circumstances in these two countries will mean it is likely that, in the future, more asylum claims from Sri Lanka and Afghanistan will be refused. Refused asylum seekers will be sent home.

This new policy, combined with the work of the Indonesian National Police to break up criminal syndicates which has resulted in more than 60 arrests since September 2008.

In a related move, Australia will strengthen its anti-people smuggling laws by making it an offense for anyone to provide funds or other support that facilitates the crime of people smuggling in Australia.

"Australia is determined to send a strong message that, by working closely with partner countries in the region, people smugglers will be caught and will go to jail," the Australian embassy`s statement said.

The Indonesian authorities have so far been reliable enough in helping Australia block immigrants from conflict countries such as Iraq, Iran, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan, from going to Australia, Indonesia`s immediate neighbor.

The latest case was when West Java authorities managed to stop a big ship with 30 Afghan and Iranian immigrants on board heading for Australia, on April 13, 2010.

"The perpetrators brought the illegal immigrants by small boat to the middle of the sea and then stopped the big boat which was sailing to Australia," Head of the Women and Children`s Service Unit of the West Java Police Senior Commissioner Fatmah Noor said in Bandung last April 15, 2010.

Seven people had already been arrested and declared suspects in the human trafficking case, while the immigrants were held in Bogor, Fatmah said.

Last January 2010, 78 Sri Lankan immigrants, who had earlier been `rescued` by Australia`s customs vessel Oceanic Viking, had left the Tanjungpinang immigration detention center, Riau, for third countries, either Australia, Canada or New Zealand.

"But this will be the last time we are helping Australia deal with its foreign refugee influx problem," Sujatmiko said early this year, adding that Indonesia did not incur any expenditures for the deportation since all the costs were borne by the United Nations.

Late last year, Indonesia did at least two favors to Australia regarding Sri Lankan asylum seekers intending to go to Australia.

First, it was on October 11, when Indonesia`s Navy intercepted a boat with about 255 Sri Lankans aboard and took them to Merak harbor, Banten.

Second, it was when Indonesia agreed to take the group of 78 asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, from the Oceanic Viking ship which had picked them on Oct. 18 after sending out a distress signal in Indonesia`s search and rescue zone.

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(T.F001/A/F001/E002) 20-04-2010 16:38:58