Aboriginals of Australia: Warns of Crack Down on Papua Asylum Seekers
Australian PM John Howard warned of a clampdown on asylum seekers after reports of an impending exodus from the troubled Indonesian province of Papua
Australian Prime Minister John Howard yesterday warned of a clampdown on asylum seekers after reports of an impending exodus from the troubled Indonesian province of Papua.
Howard, whose government was plunged into a diplomatic crisis with Indonesia earlier this year when 42 Papuans were given asylum, said he was concerned at the reports. “The latest story will mean the government will be looking even more closely at any possible manipulation of the system. I have spoken to the immigration minister this morning,” said Howard. West Papuan pro-independence activist Edison Warom told the ABC earlier yesterday that more people were planning to make the voyage by boat to Australia.
“I can say that there will be more people leaving but I can’t confirm what day and what time, because then Jakarta will surely monitor the southern waters ... but I will say there will be an exodus,” he said through an interpreter.
Warom said those who had made it to Australia in January had been carefully vetted so their chances of gaining temporary protection visas were high, and a similar group could arrive soon.
Howard warned that if people were trying to manipulate the “orderly refugee system” then it would mean “ever closer scrutiny of any asylum application in the future”.
Howard was forced to abandon a tough new immigration law in August in the face of certain defeat in the Senate, where critics said it was an effort to appease Jakarta. Indonesia had reacted furiously to the granting of asylum to the 42 Papuans, withdrawing its ambassador and forcing Australia to issue repeated assurances that it did not support Papuan separatists.
Immigration minister Amanda Vanstone said yesterday the Australian government did not want asylum seekers risking their lives by crossing the Torres Strait between Papua and Australia.
“It’s not in our national interest, it’s not in their personal interest,” she told commercial radio.
“Why on earth people would want to promote unrest in West Papua I for the life of me don’t know, let alone promote people getting on shaky boats and risking their lives,” she said. Indonesia won sovereignty over Papua, formerly a Dutch colony, in 1969 after a referendum widely seen as a sham. Papuans have long accused Indonesia’s military of violating human rights in the province.
