The Australian, February 27, 2006
Indon protest on Papua asylum bids
By Rob Taylor in Jakarta
INDONESIA today complained that Australia's processing of asylum applications for
43 Papuans on Christmas Island was "dragging".
In Canberra, Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said she was unable to confirm
when a decision would be made about the asylum claims.
"Domestic law in Australia takes time. It is dragging a li! ttle a bit," Indonesian Foreign
Minister Hasan Wirayuda said after a Jakarta meeting with visiting Australian Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer.
"It is a time-consuming process," he said.
As well as signalling Indonesia's impatience over how long the cases have run, Dr
Wirayuda also made little headway with calls for face-to-face consular access to the
Papuans.
He said Indonesian official access to the group so far had been limited to telephone
conversations.
"Telephone access is not satisfying enough. We are trying again to have direct
access," he told AAP.
Mr Downer said the Papuans have not received Indonesian consular visits because
they had not wanted them.
"If they don't wish to have access we will not give them access," Mr Downer said.
He said he explained the asylum process to Dr Wirayuda and said the applications,
regardless of the outc! ome, would not affect Australia's support for Indonesia's
territorial integrity and rejection of Papuan separatist claims.
"We fully support Indonesia's territorial integrity. We fully support the province of West
Papua remaining part of the Republic of Indonesia," he said.
"We offer no sympathy or support for succession from Indonesia."
The 36 adults and seven children arrived at Cape York earlier this year after spending
five days at sea in a rickety boat.
They were then taken to Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, where their asylum
claims were now being assessed.
Refugee groups have lobbied the Government to release the independence advocates
into the community on the mainland while the claims were being done.
But Senator Vanstone said the Papuans would go through the normal processes.
"Look, they're going through the normal process, tha! t process can take some time,"
she said.
"Getting in-country information is not always easy. That's not something that's done
by my department, that's done by the department of foreign affairs and trade.
"They will be handled in the normal way."
© The Australian
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