RI Must be Cautious About Australias Stance on Asylum Seekers: Expert

Jakarta (Antara) - Indonesia must be cautious with regards to Australia's tactics in dealing with the asylum seeker problem, an international law expert has said. "In handling asylum seekers Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott always tends to take a unilateral and ego-centric policy which has the potential to undermine Indonesia," Prof. Hikmahanto Juwono said on Wednesday. He cited as an example the statements made by PM Abbott and Border Affairs Minister Scott Morrison in response to the question posed by Dewi Fortuna Anwar, the Deputy for Political Affairs at the office of Vice President Boediono, where Dewi had asked why Indonesia was still negotiating with Australia with regards to the issue. It had earlier been decided that Indonesia would only accept asylum seekers helped by Australian ships as long as Australia also accepted the same number of asylum seekers held in its immigration detention centers. "The idea of asylum seeker exchange disclosed by Dewi Fortuna Anwar is actually a win-win solution but it seems that the Australian government will not accept it," Hikmahanto pointed out. He added that PM Abbott and Minister Morrison seemed to want to reject the report by saying they would not comment on it and would not negotiate anything through the media. Hikmahanto also noted that asylum seekers who had rented a boat from Indonesian fishermen to cross over to Australia deliberately tended to damage their boat in order to be able to send an SOS signal to Australian authorities and not to Indonesian authorities as part of their efforts to reach that country. "They deliberately do not contact Indonesian authorities," he stated. He added that as soon as the Australian authorities evacuated these refuges, they automatically obtained a right as asylum seekers and refugees based on the Refugee Convention of 1951. "Although the boat is in Indonesian territorial waters at the time, because they have already flagged an Australian ship, the law used for dealing with them should be Australian law," the professor explained. Australia is a participant in the 1951 Refugee Convention and so the convention must be applied to asylum seekers in an Australian ship. Indonesia, Hikmahanto said, was not open to accepting asylum seekers helped by Australia, because these asylum seekers' intention was to seek asylum in Australia and not Indonesia. "It is strange that the Australian authorities have forced Indonesia to accept asylum seekers who have already been on an Australia ship," he stated. Hikmahanto also said Australia's stance to label the asylum seekers as illegal immigrants because of their unexpected arrival was unfavorable for Indonesia. The Australian media has reported that a special envoy of PM Abbott will be in Jakarta this week to discuss the issue.(*) Reporting by Akhmad Kusaeni (L.A017*G003/H-YH/INE/a014)