Australian academic barred entry to RI
Adianto P. Simamora and Vivi Anggraeni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The tsunami tragedy in Aceh and the fine relief work from Australia certainly strengthened the roller-coaster relationship between Indonesia and Australia, but the two nations are now facing a new test.
A respected Australian academician was barred from entering Indonesia in a move that hearkened back to the strict days of the New Order when Soeharto was in power.
The immigration authorities sent Dr. Edward Aspinall, an Australian citizen, back to Sydney on Tuesday shortly after he arrived on a business visa at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. He was on his way to Aceh to help an aid agency there.
The Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Aspinall, a lecturer at Sydney University and an Indonesianist, had been sent back to his country shortly after arriving in Jakarta as his name was on a blacklist, possibly due to some contact with separatists in Aceh.
"He (Aspinall) has been barred from entering Indonesia, his name was included on the blacklist issued by the immigration office," Yuri Thamrin, the ministry's spokesman said on Thursday.
Yuri said that he had no knowledge about the ban against Aspinall or why it was imposed based on a recommendation from the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra.
"The immigration office is the sole authority in preparing the list," he explained.
But the Immigration office had a slightly different version.
"Aspinall's ban was imposed due to a request from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Indonesian Ambassador in Canberra," Muhammad Indra, a senior officer at the directorate general of immigration, said.
Muhammad said Aspinall would be banned for an unspecified period of time, and could not reveal the reason or how long the ban would be effective.
Yuri refused to spell out what sort of offenses would get someone on such a list, saying that it was not necessary to question such edicts.
"Every country, including Indonesia, has a right, without having to reveal a reason, to ban foreigners from entering Indonesia," he said.
Aspinall, a historian and the author of The Last Days of Suharto, is the first foreign scholar to be banned from Indonesia since Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono assumed the presidency.
The lecturer has recently accepted a proposal to replace Harold Crouch, a well-known Indonesian expert, at the Australian National University.
Several weeks ago, Aspinall did voluntary work in Aceh translating for Australian doctors that were treating tsunami victims.
Aspinall, a frequent traveler to Indonesia, once lived on Java when he was 14.
"I am shocked and confused, I find it very hard to know why," he said.
"The staff (was) very polite and showed me a document, which said the reason for the ban was a letter from the Indonesian ambassador, dated Feb. 25, the same day I was issued a visa at the Indonesian consulate in Sydney," he said as quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald.
"I can only speculate that it must have something to do with something I have said recently in the media, perhaps to do with the political situation in Aceh, which is my area of interest," Aspinall told AFP.
A source revealed that Aspinall allegedly worked as an advisor to a Free Aceh Movement (GAM) activist in Aceh.
GAM has been fighting for a separate state for decades.
Meanwhile, the Australian Embassy in Jakarta also refused to comment on Aspinall's ban.
"We don't have any information yet on the (ban) issue, this is Indonesia's regulation," Elizabeth O'Neill, the Embassy's spokeswoman stated.