Allocate island for immigrants: Expert
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Indonesia should allocate one of its islands to accommodate the influx of immigrants, but it should also seek a special agreement to ensure that the international community will take care of the asylum seekers, experts suggested on Thursday.
Edy Prasetyono of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said Indonesia's past experience in providing Galang island in Riau to accommodate the boat people from Vietnam, could be used as a model to deal with the current influx of immigrants from South Asian and Middle Eastern countries.
However, he warned that Indonesia should not be burdened with accommodating the immigrants.
"We can accommodate them on an island, but the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) should assume responsibility for them," said Edy, who is head of the CSIS department of international affairs.
Dewi Fortuna Anwar of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) concurred, saying: "It would only be possible if there was an international agreement and Indonesia was not responsible for the expenses (of sheltering them)."
Dewi said it would be unfair for Indonesia to shoulder all the problems of the refugees since the nation was only a transit point for refugees.
"In addition, Indonesia already has serious problems with its own huge number of internally displaced people. How can Indonesia be held responsible for all the problems," Dewi told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
The issue of illegal immigrants resurfaced early this week after an Indonesian boat carrying 418 asylum seekers from Afghanistan and Iran sank on its way to Australia, killing over 350 on board last weekend.
Some immigrants had reportedly obtained refugee status to enter Australia.
Indonesia has become a jumping-off point for refugees coming from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and other South Asian and Middle Eastern countries, heading for Australia and New Zealand.
Dewi, the former advisor to former president B.J. Habibie, stressed that there should be a multilateral approach to the refugee problem because it was also a result of multilateral policies.
"In Iraq, people are forced to leave the country, for example, as a result of economic sanctions imposed by the United Nations," Dewi added.
She said people whose countries experienced problems, like Iraq and Afghanistan, would leave their country to seek out a more secure and wealthy country, such as Australia and New Zealand, if they had money.
Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Wiryono Sastrohandoyo agreed that the problems should be solved through a multilateral approach.
He said that an international conference on immigrants as proposed by Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda would be a productive way to settle the problems.
Wiryono said that international bodies such as the UNHCR and International Office of Migration (IOM) could play an active role in resolving the immigrant problem.
Meanwhile, Antara reported from Canberra that Australian leaders, including Prime Minister John Howard, had also welcomed the Indonesian initiative. But Howard said that the conference would not be a guarantee to solve the refugee problem.
Wiryono warned Australia not to point its finger at Indonesia for the influx of illegal immigrants seeking entry to that country.
"Australia cannot blame Indonesia for the steady influx of illegal immigrants to that country because Indonesia is also facing the same problem," Wiryono said.
"Nevertheless, the Indonesian government cannot wash its hands of the problem because the illegal immigrants use Indonesia as a springboard," he said.