Authority says 29 foreigners free to go

Authority says 29 foreigners free to go

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Police had little to say as
immigration officials declared on Monday that 29 of the 30
foreigners detained by police following Friday's raid on a labor
seminar in Depok were free to go as of Monday evening.

The only remaining foreigner, a Pakistani, is scheduled to be
deported to his country of origin for allegedly violating the
conditions of his visa, according to Mursanudin Abdul Ghani, the
head of the Immigration Office's general affairs department.

Ghani said on Monday that while the 29 freed foreigners held
short-stay visas, which allowed them to attend conventions,
seminars and take part in social and cultural activities, the
Pakistani, identified later as the Farooq Tariq, the general
secretary of the Pakistan Labor Party, held a tourist visa.

"A tourist visa does not allow him to take part in seminars.
Deportation is the most practical solution in this case rather
than bringing the case to court," Ghani told reporters at his
office in South Jakarta.

"The courts are overwhelmed with similar cases, anyhow," he
added.

Tariq told The Jakarta Post that he felt he was being
discriminated against.

"This is just because I'm from a poor country... the people
from rich countries have been released. What's terrible is that
the Pakistani Embassy has not contacted me at all," Tariq said.

Police barged into Friday's seminar on labor issues, which was
being held at an inn in Depok, and detained 32 foreigners and
eight Indonesians.

A 4.5-year-old Australian child and her mother were the first
to be released, and were flown safely back to Australia on Sunday
with the assistance of the Australian Embassy.

Twenty-nine other foreigners were freed on Monday, comprising
18 Australians, two Belgians and one each from the United
Kingdom, United States, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand,
Japan, Thailand, France and Germany.

Of the released foreigners, an associate professor from the
University of New South Wales, Helen Jarvis, castigated the raid
as an attack on democratic rights.

"The police had no arrest warrant, no search warrant. They
showed us nothing, told us nothing. They came barging in, with no
letter of authorization," Helen told the Post.

"Why did we go with them? They were armed with automatic
rifles, pistols and tear gas launchers. At least 50 of them burst
in ... they had us surrounded. They were also ... pulling us by
the arms in the direction of the waiting police trucks."

Maxwell Lane, also from Australia, added that the raid would
create a very negative image of the Indonesian government
apparatus among the Australian public at large.

"The idea of police breaking up a peaceful discussion will
definitely shock the ordinary people of Australia ... and this
will definitely create a negative impression among the people of
Australia," Maxwell said.

Meanwhile, Jakarta Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Anton Bachrul
Alam maintained that the police had done the right thing by
detaining the foreigners and were prepared to face any legal
action the foreigners or any other party might take against the
them.

"Whatever we did, we did it in accordance with Indonesian law.
If the meeting's organizers or the foreigners decide to bring a
lawsuit against us, they are welcome to do so. We were just doing
our job. We're not afraid." (ylt)