RI does not object to UNHCR asylum plan for Acehnese<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will not object the decision by the
\nUnited Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to arrange
\npolitical asylum for 22 Acehnese who are seeking refuge at the
\nUnited States embassy and UN compound in the Malaysian capital of
\nKuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n
"Indonesia in principle treats the 22 Acehnese people as
\nillegal workers and it depends on the Malaysian government and
\nUNHCR on how to treat them," Gaffar Fadyl, spokesman for the
\nIndonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry, said here yesterday.<\/p>\n
Gaffar made the statement in reaction to the UNHCR's recent
\ndecision to treat them as asylum seekers and to seek third
\ncountries which were ready to give them asylum.<\/p>\n
AP reported from Kuala Lumpur yesterday that the UN would
\narrange political asylum for the 22 Indonesians who took refuge
\nin the United States embassy and UN compound here to escape
\ndeportation.<\/p>\n
"We have interviewed all 22 of them, we have investigated, and
\nwe have concluded that they are refugees and in need of
\ninternational protection," Hege Rudd of the UNHCR said.<\/p>\n
The UNHCR had not decided where the refugees would be given
\nasylum, Rudd said, adding that they could be sent to different
\ncountries.<\/p>\n
"The UNHCR is in close communication with the Malaysian
\ngovernment to see what the next step will be for these refugees,"
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
The UN was asked to intervene after the Indonesians refused to
\nleave the U.S. embassy in downtown Kuala Lumpur, saying that they
\nwould be tortured and possibly killed by the Indonesian military
\nif they were deported.<\/p>\n
The refugees are all from Aceh, on the northern tip of
\nSumatra, where an armed separatist movement has been active since
\nthe 1970s.<\/p>\n
Fleeing a police crackdown on illegal migrants, 14 Indonesians
\nrammed a truck through the gates of the UNHCR compound on March
\n30.<\/p>\n
Eleven days later, eight more Acehnese hoisted themselves over
\nthe walls of the U.S. embassy and sought political asylum.<\/p>\n
The UNHCR would try to resettle the 22 men by seeking legal
\nprotection, and in certain cases, citizenship, from governments
\nwho agreed to allow them in, the official said.<\/p>\n
But the fate of two dozen other Indonesians who scrambled over
\nthe walls of the Swiss, French and Brunei embassies on April 9
\nhangs in balance.<\/p>\n
Unlike the U.S. and the UN, these embassies handed the illegal
\nimmigrants over to Malaysian police, who took them to a detention
\ncamp.<\/p>\n
"The UNHCR has not been able to see them," said Rudd.<\/p>\n
Malaysia says the Acehnese are economic migrants, not
\npolitical refugees, and hence should be deported like all other
\nforeigners found working without valid permits.<\/p>\n
Malaysia has already deported 30,000 Indonesians this year in
\nan attempt to secure jobs for its own people as its economy heads
\ninto recession.<\/p>\n
Prior to the Southeast Asian economic crisis, hundreds of
\nthousands of foreign workers were welcomed in Malaysia and
\nprovided much of the work force in the booming property sector.
\nOf the 8 million labor force in the property sector, 3 million
\nwere migrant workers, half of them Indonesian. (rms)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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