http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/indonesia-talks-sink-new-hope-on-boats-20120703-21flq.html Indonesia talks sink new hope on boats July 4, 2012 a.. Joint statement ... Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Julia Gillard promised to intensify efforts to tackle people smuggling. Photo: Reuters
THE steady arrival of asylum seeker boats is unlikely to abate any time soon with the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, demanding the release of crew members from Australian jails while offering little new in return for helping to stop the trade. In a joint statement released after their meeting in Darwin the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, agreed to the speedy processing and release of the minors from Australian jails. Both leaders promised to intensify efforts to tackle people smuggling. But the Indonesians promised little other than to continue local law enforcement and intelligence sharing on people trafficking, and to accept Australian help with a public information campaign to dissuade young Indonesian men from crewing the boats. Dr Yudhoyono said ''Indonesia is also a victim of acts of illegal people smuggling'' and the nation's young men were ''also victims of acts of people smuggling''. Many of the crews arrested claim to be minors but it is hard to prove their age. Last week, in a gesture of goodwill ahead of the visit, Australia released seven young men from jail, taking to 15 the number set free so far. They were released following the review of a controversial technique involving wrist X-rays to determine their age. Dr Yudhoyono welcomed the release of the 15 but claimed there were another 54 Indonesian minors in adult detention and he wanted them released too. ''We hope that the repatriation of the remaining under-age seafarers can be accelerated,'' he said. The government was confused over Dr Yudhoyono's claims of 54 minors. It released figures saying there were 204 Indonesian crew serving a sentence for people smuggling and another 127 on remand in prison awaiting trial. There were another 79 in immigration detention of which 10 were confirmed minors and were being repatriated while eight more were having their age determined. The sinking of two boats in less than a week has reignited asylum seekers as a political issue. Last week the Parliament failed to break the policy deadlock when the government, the Coalition and the Greens could not find common ground. Following frustration from Australian authorities about the inability of Indonesians to mount search and rescue operations in their designated area, Dr Yudhoyono did agree to an offer of assistance from Australia. When a boat sank the week before last and 90 people drowned, it was in Indonesia's search and rescue zone but Indonesia had little capacity to respond. Australian search and rescue experts will travel to Indonesia to offer advice and technological assistance so that Indonesia's search and rescue agency, Basarnas, can better co-ordinate with merchant vessels, which are often first on the scene. The Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott, had his own meeting with Mr Yudhoyono yesterday and afterwards his foreign affairs spokeswoman, Julie Bishop, was coy when asked about the response to their policy idea of turning back the boats. The Immigration Department said the Indonesians allowed it a handful of times under the Howard government but would not do so again. Greg Fealy, an associate professor in Indonesian politics at the Australian National University, told the Herald it had always been the case that Australia gave more than Indonesia on people smuggling. ''The Indonesians know that every Australian government has been desperate for strong action in Indonesia on people smuggling,'' he said. ''They are somewhat bemused by all this.'' Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/indonesia-talks-sink-new-hope-on-boats-20120703-21flq.html#ixzz1zfeffxx3 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: [email protected] Subscribe : [email protected] Unsubscribe : [email protected] List owner : [email protected] Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: [email protected] [email protected] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [email protected] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
