Immigration office washes hands of illegal immigrants

Immigration office washes hands of illegal immigrants

JAKARTA (JP): The immigration office washed its hands on
Friday over the entry of illegal immigrants to Indonesia, saying
that most of them entered the country without passing official
immigration checkpoints.

"The immigration office cannot control their entry as they
came to Indonesia by boat and they did not carry legal documents
like passports and visas," spokesman for the directorate general
of immigration Ade E. Dahlan told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He said the illegal immigrants, mostly from the Middle East,
came to Indonesia by boat through coastal routes that were not
monitored by the Indonesian water security authorities.

Regional Representative of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Jakarta Raymond Hall said
there were some 500 people who have been given status as
refugees, while 1,500 others were still seeking refugee status.

Hall said the number of illegal immigrants in Indonesia could
be much more than that figure. "I think the number could be much
higher, but we do not know exactly," Hall told the Post.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said on Thursday that many
illegal immigrants entered Indonesia using fake passports and
visas.

According to him, after successfully entering Indonesian
territory, they threw away their fake documents and joined other
illegal immigrants who were already in the country.

Dahlan admitted that there were illegal immigrants who entered
Indonesia through official Indonesian entrance gates.

"But we have no information about the figures. What we know is
that the foreigners arrested by the police and other security
officers had no documents. We do not know whether they had thrown
the documents away," he said.

Dahlan further said that since illegal immigrants had become
an international issue, the problem was now being handled by the
office of the coordinating minister for political affairs and
security.

According to Hall, the authorities in Indonesia might find it
hard to prevent the entry of illegal immigrants as the country
has a very long unguarded coast.

However, he praised the government for its high sense of
tolerance toward refugees, although it had not ratified the
convention and protocol on refugees.

Commenting on the fate of 438 asylum seekers, mostly Afghans,
on board the Norwegian freighter Tampa near Australia's Christmas
Island, Hall said that it was unlikely the freighter would return
to Indonesian territory.

"Because the ultimate destination of the migrants is
Australia," he said.

AFP reported that intense negotiations were under way on
Friday to resolve the plight of the refugees who were stranded at
sea as Australia ignored global outrage and steadfastly refused
to take them in.

Canberra has come under increasing pressure to allow the ship
to land on the island as a Norwegian envoy visited the refugees
and reported that food and water supplies were running low.

UN Deputy High Commissioner Soren Jessen-Petersen has asked
New Zealand and Norway to take in the refugees, UNHCR spokesman
Ron Redmond said in Geneva.

"The Tampa is now close to Christmas Island, the people have
been on board far too long, and that island is the most logical
place for them to go to for the time being."

That view was echoed by Norway's ambassador to Australia, Ove
Thorsheim, who spent more than five hours aboard the Tampa on
Friday and said Christmas Island was "the most viable option."

Jessen-Petersen presented the plan to disembark the asylum
seekers temporarily on Christmas Island at an informal meeting of
Australian, Norwegian and Indonesian representatives at the UNHCR
headquarters in Geneva.

The fledgling nation of East Timor and New Zealand indicated
they would both consider offering a safe haven to the refugees.
But Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer ruled out
sending the refugees to East Timor, which is still trying to
rebuild, following mayhem after an independence ballot.

Norway said it would consider accepting some of the refugees
but insisted Australia first had a duty to acknowledge its
primary responsibility for the asylum seekers.

Though urgent talks were continuing between officials in
Jakarta and Canberra, Howard has not spoken yet with Indonesia's
new President, Megawati Sukarnoputri. "Nobody should assume this
is going to be resolved overnight. These things never are,"
Howard said, as quoted by AP. (02)