Allocate island for immigrants: Expert

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.