Australian academic barred entry to RI

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.