JAKARTA, April 8 (UPI) -- Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is expected to sign into law in the next several days a bill passed by Parliament that criminalizes people smuggling.
Convicted people smugglers could be jailed for up to 15 years and government officials who receive bribes to turn a blind eye to the crime face up to five years in jail. Convicted smugglers also face a fine of up to $170,000.
The Indonesian government, as well as the Australian government, hopes the law will dissuade people smugglers from operating in Indonesia.
The country is a major staging post for illegal migrants from Asian countries further west -- many from Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran -- who pay notorious Indonesian people smugglers often thousands of dollars in a bid for a better life in Australia.
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But many of the migrants are conned of their money or given passage on unseaworthy boats, which founder at sea. The fortunate migrants are rescued by Australian maritime and naval patrols but are sent to crowded detention camps to wait often months for a decision on whether they can stay in Australia.
"This is a big step forward for us," Benny Harman, a Democrat Party member of Parliament who also is in charge of Indonesia's immigration commission.
Up to now, Australia has heavily criticized Indonesian courts for not taking people smuggling seriously as a crime. Many suspected people smugglers have faced only minor immigration infringements and not had stiff fines or jail sentences.
In October 2009, Abraham Lauhenapessy, a 49-year-old Indonesian, also known as Captain Bram, was arrested in Indonesian waters after the navy intercepted his 90-foot wooden boat carrying 250 Sri Lankan would-be asylum seekers. He was discovered hiding among the asylum seekers on the vessel Jaya Lestari 5.
His trial in Jakarta in March 2010 ended in farce when he was freed after being fined $3,000 for not having the correct sailing documents for his ship. He was placed on probation for 18 months, six months less than prosecutors demanded. If he has a similar conviction, he will go to prison for a year.
Australia has taken a tougher line on people smugglers, many of whom are discovered on the stricken vessels but who often say they are illegal migrants themselves.
In January a group of Indonesian men were jailed in the Australian city of Darwin for smuggling more than 100 Afghani asylum seekers into the country.
In April 2009, the six men brought two boatloads of Afghanis into Australian waters but the ships were intercepted by the navy.
The court handed out jail sentences ranging from 10 months to more than five years.
The dangers of taking passage on board smugglers ships was highlighted in December when Australian rescuers pulled the bodies of drowned migrants, including those of two baby girls and an infant boy, from stormy waters off the coast of Christmas Island.
Nearly 30 people died when their rickety wooden vessel was repeatedly dashed against sharp coastal rocks only feet from land. But the seas were too heavy to reach the desperate people whose attempts to swim ashore were filmed by helpless would-be rescuers on shore.
Christmas Island, an Australian territory, is 750 miles from the mainland but, because it lies 180 miles from Indonesia, people smugglers target the island as a place to unload their human cargo.
The Australian government broadly welcomed the coming Indonesian law.
"The Gillard government has strongly advocated a regional solution to the global problem of people smuggling," Australian Home Affairs and Justice Minister Brendan O'Connor said in a statement.
"Our two nations have worked productively together on tackling people smuggling in recent times, including close co-operation between law enforcement agencies."
