“We have no business with Australia,” Says Indo Immigration Head
In the wake of Australia-Indonesia spying controversy, the head of Immigration at the Law and Human Rights Agency in North Sumatra, Rustanov, made the adverse announcement that the department will no longer conduct special surveillance of boat people passing through the Indonesian waters going to Australia.
"We have no business with Australia. Let boat people head there [...] Now there is no need to waste energy arresting them," Mr Rustanov told The Jakarta Post in Medan, North Sumatra.
Hence, asylum seekers arriving through boats were now in convenience to come in Australia.
The National Police in Indonesia, too, said that it will be allowing boat people going to Christmas Island to pass freely the Indonesian waters.
"We must crackdown on any violations of the law in the country, but if a person intends to go there [Christmas Island], it does not come under our authority. We no longer have cooperation [on boat people]," National Police Chief Gen. Sutarman said.
The adverse decisions from these Indonesian officials were made in support to President's Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's announcement of Indonesia's suspension of collaboration with Australia on dealing with the people smugglers.
The Indonesian waters, particularly those of North Sumatra and West Java, had become the widely known access to Australia for those asylum seekers from the Middle East and Africa. Before the spying feud sparked, Indonesia's National Police monitored and patrolled its borders against boat riding asylum seekers. It also conducted intelligence operations to remote subdistricts and villages to track down asylum seekers, especially the people smuggling syndicates. There were 16,000 non-commissioned officers, locally called Babinkamtibmas, deployed to retrieve information about people smugglers and undocumented asylum seekers. These officers also tracked down local fishermen who were selling their boats to people smugglers.
Meanwhile, President Yudhoyono announced on Tuesday that he will deploy a special envoy to draft a new agreement between Australia and Indonesia's ethics code. He hoped that Prime Minister Tony Abbott wil sign the code of ethics.
"When both countries, but particularly Indonesia, have regained trust and also when the protocol and code ethics are fully implemented, then we can continue mutual beneficial bilateral relations including military and police co-operation between the two countries."