January 10-2014
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has ordered the navy to force boats carrying asylum seekers from Indonesia to go back to Indonesia, with at least two boats—one carrying Iranians—forced back thus far.
While Abbott had talked about doing this in the fall election campaign, he had never ordered it done until now, presumably because of fierce opposition from the Indonesian government.
Indonesian sources quoted in the Australian media said two boats carrying groups of about 45 Middle Eastern and North African asylum seekers were “pushed” back into Indonesian waters by the Australian navy.
Abbott, elected last year after running on a hard-line pledge to “stop the boats,” would not confirm the new policy.
The move could further strain relations with Indonesia, which have been damaged in recent weeks by revelations that Australian spies targeted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife.
Following the revelations, Indonesia said it would stop cooperating with Australia in stemming the flow of asylum seekers. That is what likely prompted Abbott to institute the new policy.
Australia’s Fairfax newspapers, citing unidentified sources, said the government wouldn’t stop turning back asylum seekers and instead was considering transferring any found in Australian waters in the future onto powered inflatable lifeboats so that they could be safely transported back across the sea border between the two countries.
In the past six years, more than 50,000 people have attempted the perilous voyage in rickety boats from Indonesia to Australia; more than 1,000 are believed to have drowned. In the last year, the largest group attempting the trip has been Iranians.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said Jakarta firmly rejects any policies “that resemble the pushing back the boat. Such policy is not actually conducive to a comprehensive solution to the issue.”
Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison did not deny the new policy but said he could not comment for “operational security reasons.” But Morrison stipulated that the Australian navy had not “violated Indonesian territorial sovereignty.”
International lawyers have given mixed opinions on whether it is lawful to turn a boatload of asylum seekers into another nation’s waters, indicating this is a fuzzy area—as is much of international law.
An Indonesian police chief on Rote Island, Indonesia’s southernmost point, said two boats had arrived in recent weeks after being pushed back by Australian navy vessels.
The first boat, carrying passengers originally from Iran, Somalia, Sudan and Eritrea, was intercepted December 13 by the Australian navy and “pushed” back to the island December 19. A second boat, carrying mostly Africans, landed on the island Monday.
The Abbott government has taken a tough stance toward asylum seekers including detaining all arrivals by boat in detention centers on remote Pacific islands. The boat people have become a hot issue in Australian politics with both major parties trying to outdo one another in their toughness. Only small leftist groups have condemned the harsh treatment. The influx has slowed considerably as the treatment has hardened.