Indonesia demands Australia’s reply over alleged deal with smugglers
Indonesia's foreign minister has demanded answers from Australia over accounts that its immigration authorities paid off the crew of a migrant-smuggling boat thousands of dollars to return the vessel to Indonesia.
Retno Marsudi said on Saturday that Jakarta would be "really concerned" if it was confirmed that the captain and five crew of a naval vessel carrying asylum-seekers were each paid 5,000 US dollars by an Australian immigration official to take the boat back to Indonesia after Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott refused to refute the allegations, AFP reported.
According to the report, the claims regarding the incident were made to a local police authority on Rote Island in eastern Indonesia, where the boat carrying 65 asylum seekers came ashore in late May after being intercepted by the Australian naval forces.
Marsudi further noted that she had brought the matter to the attention of Australia's Ambassador to Indonesia Paul Grigson on the sidelines of a conference in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.
"We are really concerned if it is confirmed," she said.
The growing row between the two nations threatens to further damage their mutual ties, which have remained tense after Indonesia executed two convicted Australian drug smugglers by the firing squad in April.
Meanwhile Jakarta has launched a probe into the alleged payments to the crew of the vessel carrying asylum-seekers from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, which was intercepted en route to New Zealand.
Abbott, meanwhile, emphasized on Friday that Australia would do "whatever we need" to combat people-smuggling but repeatedly refused to deny that such payments were made.
"By hook or by crook, we are going to stop the trade," he further stated. "We have stopped the trade and we will do what we have to do to ensure that it stays stopped."
Canberra has adopted a harsh immigration policy since Abbott's conservative coalition took power in September 2013 and refuses to accept asylum-seekers arriving by boats.
The policy includes military-led measures to turn back such boats and sending asylum seekers to its Pacific island outpost of Nauru and Papua New Guinea for resettlement despite strong criticism by human rights organizations.
MFB/NN/HRB
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