Australia tells Indonesia to fix its borders

15 June 2015 - 04H05

by Louise Healy and Biodun Iginla, France24, Sydney

• inShare

© BASARNAS/AFP/File | File photo of an Australian navy boat (L) shadowing a suspected asylum-seekers boat about 50 nautical miles south of Java island and sailing towards Australian waters

SYDNEY -  Australia on Monday told Indonesia to better secure its borders in a stinging rebuke after Jakarta demanded answers to allegations Canberra paid to turn back a boat of asylum-seekers.
The response from Foreign Minister Julie Bishop came after the Indonesian foreign ministry on Saturday said if the claims were true, it would be "a new low for the way that the Australian government is handling this issue", while asking for an explanation.
Claims that the captain and five crew of a boat, carrying migrants from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka, were each paid US$5,000 by an Australian immigration official to turn back to Indonesia were made to Indonesian police on Rote island in the country's east last week.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has refused to deny the allegations, with the opposition Labor Party writing to the auditor-general requesting an urgent investigation.
The Greens party was also due Monday to ask the upper house Senate to demand the government table documents detailing any payments.
Bishop suggested in an interview with The Australian newspaper that Indonesia was to blame for failing to properly manage its borders.
"I look forward to hearing the full results of Indonesia's investigation of the people-smuggling crimes committed in Indonesia," she said.
This, she added, should include "any breaches of passport and visa laws, and establishing whether the captains and crews of these boats are part of people-smuggling syndicates or are paid by them".
"The best way for Indonesia to resolve any concerns it has about Operation Sovereign Borders is for Indonesia to enforce sovereignty over its borders," Bishop said, referring to Australia's anti-people smuggling policy.
"Operation Sovereign Borders is necessary because Indonesian boats with Indonesian crews are leaving Indonesia with the express intention of breaching our sovereignty, facilitated by illegal people-smuggling syndicates."
Abbott's conservative coalition implemented a tough immigration policy after coming to power in September 2013 that included military-led efforts to turn back such boats, which mostly come from Indonesia.
The hardline policy also involves sending asylum-seekers that arrive by boat to camps on the Pacific islands of Nauru and Papua New Guinea despite strong criticism from rights groups. They are banned from settling in Australia even if found to be genuine refugees.
Only one boat with asylum-seekers has reached the Australian mainland since December 2013. Before the policy was introduced, boats were arriving almost daily, with hundreds drowning en route.
Abbott on Sunday said the key message for Indonesia was that his government was "prepared to do what's necessary" to prevent unwanted boats arriving in Australian waters.
Labor immigration spokesman Richard Marles said the claims were affecting bilateral ties which were already strained after Indonesia executed two Australian drug-smugglers in April, with Canberra recalling its ambassador in protest.
Asked if he agreed with Bishop, he replied: "I don't think now is the time for the Australian government to be walking down that path."

Australia PM Abbott dodges migrant boat payment allegations

by Louise Healy and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Canberra

1 hour ago

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has refused to deny reports that an Australian navy ship paid the crew of a migrant boat to turn back to Indonesia.

But Mr Abbott said Australia had developed "incredibly creative" approaches to stopping asylum boats from reaching Australia.
Australia's immigration and foreign ministers have denied allegations a payment was made to the crew.
But Indonesia's foreign ministry has said it is "very concerned".

'Saw with my own eyes'

Police in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province said earlier this week that they had detained the captain and crew of a boat on people-smuggling charges in late May.

The migrants - from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Sri Lanka - were reportedly heading to New Zealand and are being held on the remote Rote island about 500km (310 miles) north-east of Australia.
They told police that an Australian navy ship intercepted them at sea, and an immigration official on board paid them each A$5,000($3,900; £2,500) to turn back to Indonesia.
Local police chief Hidayat told AFP news agency: "I saw the money with my own eyes. This is the first time I'd heard [of] Australian authorities making payments to boat crew."
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Radio New Zealand reported similar allegations from passengers.

Analysis: Jon Donnison, BBC News, Sydney

The prime minister's refusal to deny reports that Australian officials are now paying people-smugglers to turn back suggests Mr Abbott is now using financial means to meet his pledge to stop the boats.
His claim that Australia was doing so by "hook or by crook" indicates that he knows such methods stretch ethical boundaries.
Australia has been hammered by human rights groups for its tough policies. But they've worked.

Two years ago tens of thousands were trying to reach Australia's shores by boat. Today that number has been reduced to virtually nothing and polls show, despite the international criticism, Mr Abbott broadly has his public's support.

Speaking to Radio 3AW on Friday morning, Mr Abbott would not deny the allegation that a payment had been made, but said immigration personnel had developed "creative strategies" to stop the migrant boats.

"We have stopped the trade and we will do what we have to do to ensure that it stays stopped," he said.
Under Australia's controversial policies, no migrants and asylum seekers are allowed to reach its territories by boat. They are instead intercepted at sea and turned back or taken to detention facilities on the island nation of Nauru and on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea.

Australia and asylum

• Asylum seekers - mainly from Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Iraq and Iran - travel to Australia's Christmas Island by boat from Indonesia
• The number of boats rose sharply in 2012 and early 2013. Scores of people have died making the journey
• To stop the influx, the government has adopted hard-line measures intended as a deterrent
• Everyone who arrives is detained. Under a new policy, they are processed in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Those found to be refugees will be resettled in PNG, Nauru or Cambodia
• Tony Abbot's government has also adopted a policy of tow-backs, or turning boats around
• Rights groups and the UN have voiced serious concerns about the policies and accuse Australia of shirking international obligations

Asia security summit under guard after police shoot man outside

31 May 2015 - 11H05

by Coco Jiang and Biodun Iginla, Reuters and France24

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© AFP/File | Armed policemen with Singapore's special operation command unit patrol near the Shangri-La hotel where the 14th Asia Security Summit takes place, on May 29, 2015

SINGAPORE  -  An Asia-Pacific security summit was briefly put on lockdown Sunday after police shot dead a local motorist who tried to flee a checkpoint in a car later found to contain drugs, officials said.
The three-day Shangri-La Dialogue attended by US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and counterparts from around the world along with top military officials ended at midday Sunday.
But before dawn, police opened fire at a car with three Singaporean men after they tried to crash through a barricade outside the annual summit's venue, the Shangri-La Hotel.
The 34-year-old driver was killed and one passenger was wounded and hospitalised. Both passengers are now under arrest.
"Substances believed to be controlled drugs and an item believed to be a drug-taking utensil were found on the men arrested," the police said in a statement.
"The driver and one of the passengers are wanted by authorities for various offences," the statement said, adding that no weapons or explosives were found in the vehicle.
Shootings are extremely rare in Singapore, which boasts one of the world's lowest crime rates, but the city-state considers itself a potential terrorist target.
The city-state's drug laws are among the toughest in the world, with courts allowed to impose the death penalty for people convicted of trafficking large amounts of certain drugs like heroin.
"Preliminary investigations indicate that this is an isolated incident. Police investigations are ongoing," the statement added.
After the shooting, police officers initially told people attending the summit that the hotel was on complete lockdown, with no entry allowed. Roads and pathways leading up to the hotel, located in Singapore's leafy diplomatic quarter, were shut off with barricade tape.
But access to the venue was gradually eased on Sunday morning. The conference resumed at 9:00 am (0100 GMT) with no signs of alarm in the main lobby.
An AFP photographer said a bullet hole could be seen on the front windscreen of the vehicle as it was towed away at noon.
A resident at a nearby condominium told the Straits Times newspaper that she heard two gunshots just after 4:00 am local time.
Security had been heightened for the summit with roadblocks and checkpoints set up in the vicinity of the venue.
Some were manned by members of the Gurkha Contingent -- elite Nepalese fighters who are part of the local police force.

Asia boat migrants: Nations to hold emergency meeting

by Coco Jiang and Biodun Iginla, Reuters contributors and BBC News, Bangkok

49 minutes ago

Foreign ministers from Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are due to hold an emergency meeting in Kuala Lumpur to discuss the region's migrant crisis.

Thousands of Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims, fleeing persecution in Myanmar, have spent weeks at sea.
Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia have refused to let them come ashore.
Speaking ahead of the talks, Indonesia's foreign minister said the migrant issue was "not a problem of one or two countries".
"It happens in other places as well, it is actually an international issue," said Retno Marsudi.
She urged more co-operation with the United Nations and other international organisations to resettle the thousands of migrants who had abandoned the boats and made it to shore.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said a "comprehensive regional response" was needed and has called on the three countries to launch search and rescue operations and put in place procedures for assessing any refugee claims.

Towed away

Ms Marsudi will meet her counterparts Anifah Aman from Malaysia and Thailand's Tanasak Patimapragorn in the Malaysian capital to debate the issues.
The ministers face growing international pressure to relent, but also domestic public opinion, which is generally hostile to the migrants, according to the BBC's East Asia editor Jill McGivering.

Rohingya migrants have been fleeing Myanmar for decades via Thailand, but the crisis has intensified because of a crackdown on people smugglers by the Thai authorities.
It has led to traffickers using sea routes, and often abandoning migrants on boats.
Officials from neighbouring countries have supplied some of the migrants, drifting in the Andaman Sea, with food and water, but have then towed them out of their own territory.
Malaysia has already hosted more than 45,000 Rohingyas over the years, according to the UN, but now says it cannot accept any more.
The UNHCR said it was deeply concerned boats were being pushed away and has offered to send Malaysia medical and other aid, as well as help with processing the migrants.
Myanmar has acknowledged the international "concerns", but denied it was solely to blame.
It has yet to say if it will attend any meetings on the issue.

Why has this crisis erupted?

• Rohingya Muslims mainly live in Myanmar - largely in Rakhine state - where they are not considered citizens and have faced decades of persecution.
• Rights groups say migrants feel they have "no choice" but to leave, paying people-smugglers to help them. The UN estimates more than 120,000 Rohingyas have fled in the past three years.
• Traffickers usually take the migrants by sea to Thailand then overland to Malaysia, often holding them hostage until their relatives pay ransoms.
• But Thailand recently began cracking down on the migrant routes, meaning traffickers are using sea routes instead, often abandoning their passengers en route.

Why are so many Rohingya stranded at sea?
Myanmar's unwanted people