Government won't arrest Aceh asylum seekers: Susilo

Government won't arrest Aceh asylum seekers: Susilo

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government guaranteed on Thursday that it would not arrest
two Acehnese students who are now at large after their request
for asylum was rejected by the Finnish government and the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said the two men, Ermiadi and Nasruddin
Syah, had left the UNHCR representative office here voluntarily
on Wednesday night.

"The two men are somewhere outside and we expect that nobody
will engineer any kind of move that might be used to insinuate
their security is in jeopardy. Our police will ensure that no
threats are made against them," Susilo said after a Cabinet
meeting at the State Secretariat.

The two men, members of the Aceh-Sumatra National Liberation
Front (ASNLF), slipped into the Finnish Embassy on Wednesday.
After that, they were brought to the UNHCR offices to formally
request asylum on the grounds that their lives were in danger
from the Indonesian Military.

Their requests for asylum were denied as both the Finnish
government and the UNHCR considered that the two had failed to
fulfill the requirements for refugee status.

Susilo insisted, however, that it was unfair to expect the
police to ensure the safety of the Acehnese as they had failed to
inform the police of their whereabouts.

"To be fair, if somebody asks the police for protection and he
or she fails to let the police know of his or her whereabouts,
how can we provide protection. So, we expect nobody to circulate
stories that their lives are in danger," he said.

Also after the Cabinet meeting, Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hassan Wirayuda said that his ministry had received reports that
the police did not feel any urgent need to detain or question the
two asylum seekers.

"My ministry has queried whether there was any urgent need for
the police to question them and the police said definitely that
there was no need to do so. After midnight, they left the (UNHCR)
building," Hassan said.

He said the police had asked the Acehnese to leave the UNHCR
building on Thursday morning for security reasons, but the two
insisted on leaving on Wednesday evening. The police then drove
them to meet their relatives.

"We feel that the there was some kind of a premeditated action
involved here as many journalists were already there before it
happened. We would like to thank the Finnish government and the
UNHCR for their stance in the matter," Hassan said.

He said the incident should teach people a lesson that it was
not that easy to seek asylum from other countries as there were
requirements that had to be met first.