Government should study asylum issue: Legislators
Government should study asylum issue: Legislators
JAKARTA (JP): Prominent legislators urged the government yesterday to find out why hundreds of people from East Timor have sought political asylum in Australia during the past year.
Sabam Sirait and Abu Hasan Sazili warned that the issue would be exploited by those critical of Indonesian policies in East Timor to discredit the country in international fora.
Sabam yesterday scoffed at the immigration office's apparent bid to play down reports that 700 East Timorese had sought political asylum in Australia over the past 14 months.
Director General of Immigration Pranowo claimed on Tuesday that, of the 700, "only" 140 were native East Timorese and the rest were ethnic Chinese who wanted to open businesses in Australia.
"In this case I don't think it's relevant to talk about their ethnic background. They are all Indonesians anyhow," said Sabam, a member of the House of Representatives from the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
Sabam said the government had a responsibility to genuinely investigate what was happening in Indonesia's youngest province that was driving people abroad.
Sazili, from the ruling Golkar party, said it was necessary for the government to find out why the immigration office had issued passports to so many people from East Timor.
He said that some pro-independence groups in East Timor liked to dramatize their demands in order to attract the world's attention.
About 700 East Timorese have reportedly arrived in various parts of Australia via Denpasar, Bali, over the past several months using tourist visas.
Upon arrival in Australia, many of them have applied to the Australian government for refugee status. Those requests have, apparently, all been refused.
In Jakarta, security authorities briefly detained 44 East Timorese for questioning on their arrival at Tanjung Priok harbor on Tuesday. Police said the 44 were questioned on suspicion that they planned to stage a demonstration to coincide with UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's visit to the Indonesian capital.
The detainees, four of them women, were released on the same day and allowed to continue their journeys to Jakarta, Bandung and Bogor.
Spokesman for the Jakarta city police Lt. Col. Bambang Haryoko was quoted by the Kompas daily as saying that the police had yet to establish the purpose of the 44 East Timorese people's visit.
"It's still unclear whether they wanted to demonstrate, seek asylum or just visit Jakarta like other passengers on the ship," he said. (yud/imn/pan)