Refugees in limbo over final destination

JAKARTA, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Nearly 80 Tamil boat refugees could find themselves adrift on the high seas again unless a standoff with Indonesian and Australian authorities is resolved.

The 78 Sri Lankan asylum seekers are refusing to leave the Oceanic Viking, an Australian customs and fishery patrol vessel that rescued them from a dilapidated boat in Indonesian waters in mid October. The Oceanic Viking was working with Indonesian authorities and is now anchored, with the refugees, 10 miles out from Tanjung Pinang on the Indonesian island of Bintan.

The refugees want to get to Australia, which doesn't want them. The Indonesian authorities are refusing to allow the Oceanic Viking to dock, saying that unless they can find out the true identities of the boat people they will not be allowed into the country.

The local governor in Tanjung Pinang has said his city is not a "dumping ground" for refugees.

In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Teuku Faizahsyah said Indonesia will only be able to take the 78 refugees once they have been clearly identified. If this standoff continues, Indonesia will have no choice but to expel the Sri Lankans, although no exact details were given of the refugees' fate if expelled.

The standoff has highlighted the delicate political situation that many of the hundreds of refugees are unknowingly sailing into when they decide to set sail for Australia.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd agreed that Indonesia would look after the Tamils until the two countries sign a more formal arrangement, expected at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Singapore Nov. 12-14.

Australia has been paying Indonesia to take in boat people found in Indonesian waters and who are heading for Australia to claim asylum. The Rudd government has set up a camp, now with more than 1,000 boat people, on Christmas Island from where asylum seeker applications are being reviewed.

But political critics say Australia is not working enough with neighboring countries to stem the flow of refugees toward Australia. Meanwhile, human-rights advocates say the government is keeping refugees unduly long in the Christmas Island camp before allowing them into the country.

For his part, Indonesia's Susilo, who earlier this month reacted to a personal appeal from Rudd, is intercepting more boats -- and taking Australian cash to help house them. But his critics say that Australia's so-called Indonesia solution is basically Australia outsourcing its asylum problems to Indonesia.

Australia's refugee problem is becoming more that of Indonesia's as the weeks go by. The country is still holding another boatload of refugees, 250 asylum seekers who were bound for Australia earlier this month, because they refuse to cooperate on identity checks. The refugees remain on their Indonesian military boat, anchored off the Island of Java. They went on a hunger strike for several days in protest at being held and want to be allowed to go to Australia.

Australia is attempting to show it is serious about bringing to justice the people smugglers who take thousands of dollars from would-be asylum seekers in return for a treacherous ride to supposed freedom. This week two Indonesian smugglers were jailed for five years each.

However, the Supreme Court judge in Darwin in the Northern Territory said the mandatory sentences were excessive given the background of the smugglers. He wanted to give the men, who pleaded guilty, a lesser penalty, according to a report in The Australian newspaper.

The court heard the pair, illiterate and from poor fishing families, had acted out of financial hardship when they were approached to carry asylum-seekers to Australia. They were paid around $510 for their efforts.

Meanwhile, the 78 Tamils in the latest dispute will not likely know their fate until after the two countries meet at the APEC summit in Singapore, just a 55-minute boat ride away from where their holding vessel, the Oceanic Viking, lies at anchor.