Indonesia reacted furiously yesterday to Australia's decision to grant temporary visas to asylum seekers from Papua Province, recalling its ambassador and warning that the move jeopardized ties between the neighboring countries.
"The government of Indonesia is surprised, disappointed and very much regrets this decision," the foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that it showed that "elements in Australia" back the eastern Indonesian region's separatist movement.
Australia said on Thursday that 42 of a group of 43 people from the province had been granted temporary protection visas, entitling them to stay in Australia for three years.
The group, who arrived in northeastern Australia in January, had accused the Indonesian military of conducting genocide in their homeland while putting down the decades-long separatist movement.
Granting the group asylum is sensitive because it is an effective acknowledgment by Canberra that Indonesian security forces are abusing human rights in Papua, where rights activists say 100,000 have been killed in anti-insurgent operations since 1969.
Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said yesterday that he was ordering Indonesia's ambassador in Australia to return to Jakarta "as soon as the first flight could bring [him] ... back home" to discuss the matter.
Wirajuda said there had been no discussion of cutting diplomatic relations entirely.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono personally called Australian Prime Minister John Howard to reassure him that the group, which includes seven children, would not be harmed if they returned to Papua.
Indonesia's parliament yesterday urged the government to permanently withdraw Ambassador Hamzah Thayeb.
"We regret the move by the Australian government which can only worsen bilateral relations," House Speaker Agung Laksono said in a speech before the 550-seat parliament.
The foreign ministry said the Papuans were "economic migrants who wanted to start a better life" in Australia and reiterated earlier claims they were in no danger in Papua, which is mostly Christian, unlike the rest of mainly Muslim Indonesia.
"The decision is counter productive and does not take into account the sensitivities of the Indonesian people regarding this issue," the strongly worded statement said. "It is against the spirit of bilateral cooperation."
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he hoped ties would not suffer as a result of the decision, which he said was legally impossible for the government to overturn.
"Bilateral cooperation is in our mutual interest," he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio, stressing that Australia still recognized Papua as an integral part of Indonesia.
Many Indonesians believe that Australia secretly supports Papuan independence -- suspicions that stem largely from the key role Australian troops played in restoring order to East Timor when it broke from Jakarta's rule in 1999.
The ministry also claimed the decision could hurt Indonesian moves to broker a peace deal in Papua.
Indonesia's military chief questioned why the Australian coast guard had been unable to spot the asylum seekers' wooden boat and turn it away before it landed.
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
RSS