The Jakarta Post, 9/14/2006 11:19:38 AM
Australian television crew questioned in Papua
CANBERRA (AP): A popular Australian television public affairs host and four of her
film crew faced deportation from Indonesia on Thursday after they arrived in the restive
province of Papua on tourist visas, an official and media reported.
"Today Tonight" presenter Naomi Robson and her team were detained at the Papuan
capital Jayapura Wednesday where they arrived on a flight from the Indonesian tourist
island of Bali, an Indonesian Foreign Affairs Department official said.
"They entered Indonesia using the on-arrival visa which is for tourism, while we do
have some information and other indications that they are going to do some kind of
journalistic activity," department spokesman Desra Percaya said.
"That's why they were being questioned by the localauthorities, by the police," he
said.
The five have been questioned but are not detained, and will be staying at a hotel
while authorities decide how to deal with them, he said.
Newspaper reports said they were likely to be deported Thursday.
Their employer, Seven Network television, said "the crew are on a special
assignment" and "are in a difficult situation."
Papua was the source of a diplomatic rift between Indonesia and Australia this year
when Canberra accepted 43 Papuans as refugees, including supporters of the
province's secessionist movement.
Immigration officials in Papua said that the Australians are free to tour the region, but
they would be deported if they work there, Indonesian officials said Thursday.
"We will not arrest them because we cannot prove they were violating their visas,"
said Jayapura police chief J. Kalembang. "We only gave them some directions to
avoid conflict areas that are risky for them."
"But if they conduct journalist activities, then they will certainly be deported," he said.
Indonesia requires foreign media workers to obtain journalist visas before they arrive in
the country. Extra permission is required to visit Papua, where a low-level separatist
conflict has simmered for years. (**)
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