The Indonesian national police and immigration
departments are readying themselves to stop all cooperation with Australia as
soon as an order comes from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
‘I believe the embarrassment should belong to
the government of Australia’
Indonesia’s police chief General Sutarman said he was
preparing to halt all joint programs including those addressing trans-national
crime, people smuggling, trafficking in persons and terrorism if the president
made the order in response to phone-tapping revelations.
And the Law and Human Rights ministry, which oversees Indonesia’s immigration department is also preparing to withdraw its support for people-smuggling programs.
The news comes as it's revealed that three members of Indonesia's navy were caught red-handed at the weekend helping transport a group of 106 asylum seekers towards a wooden vessel bound for Australia.
It's a reminder that corrupt Indonesian officials
are often involved in people-smuggling syndicates, but also that an increasing
proportion of attempts by such syndicates to reach the coast are being
intercepted by police.
However, this could be put at risk if Indonesia carries
through a threat to withdraw from joint activities.
Indonesian foreign minister Marty Natalegawa said all joint
activities with Australia were under review because of revelations of
Australian spying in 2009 and what he describes as the ''dismissive'' response
of the Abbott government in recent weeks.
Mr Natalegawa also responded forcefully to Prime Minister
Tony Abbott's statement of ''regret'' for any ''embarrassment'' caused to
President Yudhoyono.
''I don't get it. Why would the President of Indonesia be
embarrassed?'' Mr Natalegawa told Channel News Asia. ''I believe the
embarrassment should belong to the government of Australia. They are the ones .
. . who have committed this unacceptable practice.''
On Wednesday, the Greens accused Mr Abbott of risking the
relationship with Indonesia to appease red-neck voters at home.
''Tony Abbott, worryingly, is risking the relationship with
Indonesia for the red-neck vote at home,'' deputy leader Adam Bandt told
reporters in Canberra.
''It's time to take a step back and stop the
chest-beating.''
But Labor frontbencher Tony Burke was reluctant to back
calls for an apology from Mr Abbott, even though his leader suggested that
course of action in parliament on Tuesday.
''I'm not going to add to the words Bill Shorten put
forward,'' he told reporters in Canberra on Wednesday, adding it was in
Australia's interest for the row to be resolved as quickly as possible.
Government minister Jamie Briggs dismissed Mr Bandt's call
for an apology as ''irrelevant as the person who made them''.
''The Prime Minister is walking deftly through it,'' he told
Sky News on Wednesday of the diplomatic row, adding the issue was a ''speed
hump'' in the Australian-Indonesian relationship.
National police chief Sutarman said on Tuesday he was ready
to stop all cooperation programs with Australia if ordered to do so.
''When asked to stop, we are ready to quit,'' he said.
The Australian Federal Police have a significant and growing
presence in Indonesia, particularly geared to combatting people smuggling,
trans-national crimes and terrorism. But they have no operational power, and
all arrests and investigations must be conducted by the Indonesian police
forces.
General Sutarman specifically threatened the operation of
the jointly-run Jakarta Centre for Law Enforcement Cooperation (JCLEC), which
was set up in 2008 and helps senior law enforcement officials from the region
to hone their investigative skills.
Also on Tuesday a spokesman for the Law and Human Rights
Ministry, Marolan J. Barimbing, told The Jakarta Post newspaper his
department was preparing to review several programs designed to prevent asylum
seekers heading for Australia.
''Once there are instructions, we are ready to lower the
level of cooperation,'' said Marolan, who is a former top official with the
immigration department.
''We are anticipating such an instruction . . . Our priority
is our national interest. We're working based on regulations set up to protect
the country from illegal immigrants, not to serve another country's
interests,'' he said.
Meanwhile, three members of Indonesia's navy have been
caught with a group of 106 asylum seekers after apparently being hired by a
people smuggling syndicate to provide safe passage.
The sailors, described in local media reports as enlisted
men from the Cilandak base in Jakarta, were caught by police as they group towards
a beach in South Garut, on the southern coast of Java.
They admitted they were hired by a people smuggler in
Cisarua, where thousands of asylum seekers wait for legal or illegal entry to
Australia.
The soldiers claimed they had been told that the job was to
take ''tourists'' to the beach last Saturday night.
''They did not even have time to negotiate on wages with the
people who hired them,'' said Bandung naval base commander Colonel Iswan.
''They believed they were going to get paid after they made
their drive up the coast. It was their first experience. Maybe it's because
they were freshly enlisted, they accepted this job without suspicion.''
They were arrested by local police with the would-be asylum
seekers who were predominantly members of the persecuted Rohingya muslim
minority from Myanmar.
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