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)