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Papuan asylum seeker issue could harm ties with Australia: Indonesia+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)JAKARTA, Jan. 20_(Kyodo) _ Indonesia warned Friday that the issue of Papuans currently seeking asylum in Australia could harm the two countries' relationship if it is not managed carefully. "We will not consider this as an ordinary immigration matter," Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin told a press conference after the arrival in Australia of about 40 asylum seekers from Indonesia's troubled province of Papua. "It has potential to harm the bilateral relationship between the two countries, which has been getting closer recently," he said. "Therefore, I would like to underscore the need to manage this issue very carefully in order not to jeopardize the robust, positive and constructive bilateral relationship existing now between Australia and Indonesia." On Wednesday, 36 adults and seven children reportedly landed on Australia's remote Cape York after fleeing the troubled Papua five days earlier in a rickety boat. They accused the Indonesian military of genocide and intimidation. The Australian government flew them Friday to Christmas Island for processing, sparking protests in Sydney from refugee activists who had hoped they would be processed on the mainland, the Australian Associated Press reported. Australian Prime Minister John Howard was quoted as saying that the move was "entirely appropriate" and that "their position will be assessed, they will be interviewed and they will be dealt with in accordance with the law." Ties between Indonesia and Australia, which had soured following the participation of Australian troops in a multinational peacekeeping force in East Timor, has been improving recently, particularly with their joint efforts to combat terrorism. The Indonesian spokesman warned that "lenient measures" by Australia in dealing with the Papuan asylum seekers "can strengthen perceptions that there are parties in the neighboring country (Australia) who support or express sympathy for separatism." "Once the asylum is granted, it can trigger a wave, influx of asylum seekers," he said. On the asylum seekers' claims, Thamrin said, "New Indonesia is not a fertile ground for human rights abuses, let alone genocide, because we -- the government and the people, including in Papua -- have a strong commitment that we shall live in democracy and respect human rights." Over the past three decades, Papua has frequently been the scene of violence between separatists and government security forces that has claimed thousands of lives. Rebels of the Free Papua Movement, who are fighting for an independent state, have kidnapped many locals as well as foreigners in an effort to gain international attention and support. Indonesia took over the western half of New Guinea Island from Dutch colonialists in 1963 and incorporated the territory into Indonesia after a 1969 plebiscite. Papua is home to some of the world's largest gold and copper mines and also has extensive forest reserves. Jakarta has attempted to dampen separatist sentiment by offering Papua's people a greater say in provincial-level government. It also offered provincial authorities a larger share of local forestry, fishery, oil, gas and mining revenues. |