Asylum Seekers on their way to Australia in Indonesia

Indonesia has a strategic geographic location which makes it a desirable place of transit for Asylum seekers trying to reach Australia.

There are those who go straight to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Central Jakarta, and file a request to be recognized as an asylum seeker or refugee. Thousands of asylum seekers looking to be refugees are sheltering in Indonesia; the years of waiting for placement to a third country is a tortuous affair. With only their words to go by and scant paperwork to back them up, most of these people are trying to find their way out of the suffering they experienced in home countries wracked by violence and oppression.

An ethnic Arab, Amir Mazraeh 54 years old (not his real name) fled from Iran with his family to escape what he says is the oppression and discriminatory treatment by the government there.

Amir Says “We’ve been waiting for years, and it’s been stressful because we can’t do anything besides think about our families and friends that we’ve left behind,”

Amir’s story is similar to that of hundreds of others who in recent years have flooded into Indonesia from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East as they seek to make their way, legally or otherwise, to Australia.

The Indonesian immigration office says that as of December last year, there were 3,980 illegal immigrants in the country (about 4,000, according to the UNHCR), of whom 3,011 were classified as asylum seekers and 969 refugees. Less than half, or 1,284, are housed at the government’s immigration detention centers in 13 cities across the country.

As of this month, there are at least 567 immigrants living in 42 houses, apartments, villas and hotels in Cisarua, according to the Bogor Immigration Office. In June last year, that figure was just 326, with most of the immigrants coming from Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan.

For those like Amir and fellow Iranian Yusuf (not his real name) and their families, who have been in Puncak since 2010, the wait has been anything but pleasant. Amir makes it clear what he wants after living in limbo here for the past year and a half: “I just can’t wait to leave.”

While some of the asylum seekers are luck to be supported by the government and are placed in communities until their status for refugee is determined. Other have to wait this long period in detention centres in Indonesia.

The conditions in Indonesian detention centres are not good, people are thrown together in small are without good health services. Recently an afghan asylum seeker was beaten to death at a detention centre in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The 28-year-old Afghan man was among a group of five which escaped from the Pontianak detention centre. The chief detective in Pontianak, Puji Prayitno, says the men were recaptured and were healthy when they were returned to the centre. One of them, however, died the the next day and Mr Puji says the cause of death was trauma caused by a blunt object. Asylum seekers say a guard beat one of the would-be escapees and killed him. The 10 suspects, from a staff of 30, were in police custody. As of yesterday afternoon, charges had not been laid.

Commission spokesman Andrej Mahecic said "UNHCR is seriously troubled by the unclear turn of events that followed,”

With the tide of asylum seekers continuing to grow, the government is establishing a special office within the Coordinating Ministry for Political, Legal and Security Affairs to deal with the issues of illegal immigration and people smuggling.

The ministry hosted a high-level meeting at the end of January, attended by officials from the IOM, UNHCR, the Foreign Ministry, the Transportation Ministry, the military, the police and intelligence agencies.

The new office, which will help in monitoring, synchronizing and coordinating policy applications to prevent people smuggling and handle asylum seekers, will have its own intelligence unit.

The government has acknowledged the difficulty of the task ahead. “People smuggling and illegal migrants are complex issues,” says Maryoto, from the immigration directorate. “It’s not just about immigration. It’s also about human rights, international relations and national defense.”

Indonesia has still not ratified the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol. Indonesia also does not have a legal obligation to regulate standards on handling refugees. Thus the bad condition for refugees continues and there is no hop of any change in the future for asylum seekers.

More Asylum Seekers Die Trying to Reach Australia

Boats carrying asylum seekers trying to reach Australia continue to sink due to damaged boats and bad weather.

The most recent sinking was off the coast of Malaysia on the 2^nd of February. At least eight people were killed. 18 people have been rescued and there may still be more people missing. The boat was carrying asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq. Four Pakistanis and one Afghan man were among the eight killed. It is understood that the asylum seekers had got to Malaysia by land from Thailand. A Malaysian Police spokesperson said none of the men had travel documents.

A 22-year old Afghan man, known only as Sayed was quoted as saying that the 11-metre boat was too small for all the people in the group but that they had been told it was safe. “The journey was initially smooth, but about two hours later, the sea became choppy and I could see water getting into the boat,” he said. “It was at this time that the boatman turned off the engine and everyone panicked. Suddenly, the boat started to sink. We all jumped into the water.”

Around the same time, another group of asylum seekers had to be rescued off the coast of Indonesia. This boat was carrying 54 ethnic Rohingya asylum seekers from Burma. They were believed to be heading to Australia but had to be rescued by fisherman after their boat broke down and was being battered by large waves. One of the fishermen involved in the rescue says the boat was damaged and its engine had broken down.

These recent boat sinkings come just two months after more than 200 asylum seekers drowned off the Indonesian coast. Of the estimated 250 asylum seekers on board that boat only 47 survived.

The Australian Immigration Minister, Mr Chris Bowen said these boat tragedies showed why the Australian Government needed to work with the Malaysian Government to break the business model of people smugglers. He said: “We believe the Malaysian arrangement is the best policy approach, both for Australia and for asylum seekers, providing, as it does, a clear deterrence to people getting on precarious boats and risking their lives.”

In 2011 the Australian Government agreed with Malaysia to send 800 asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia back to Malaysia. In return, Malaysia would send 4000 asylum seekers who had already been found to be refugees to Australia. The agreement was stopped by the Australian Courts in August.

Speaking at a conference on refugee issues in Melbourne, the Immigration Minister confirmed that the government would keep working to get the people-swap deal with Malaysia implemented. The Minister said the Australian Government was “convinced of its importance and virtue.”

Australian Politicians Want Tougher Measures for Asylum Seekers Without Passports

As more asylum seekers try to reach Australia by boat, there is increasing debate in Australia about ensuring that only genuine refugees are granted protection visas and allowed to stay.

Recent government statistics showed that, between July 2010 and October 2011 3,237 asylum seekers admitted that they had flown to Indonesia using their passports but only 37 of them had their passports by the time they reached Australia.

The Australian Liberal Party (currently in opposition) says that because the rates are so high, the laws should be made tougher. They want people arriving by boat to be penalized if they have destroyed their identity documents and for it to be harder for them to claim refugee status.

“Our starting point is to say if they've destroyed their documents, then we think there should be a presumption that it's going to be more difficult for them to achieve refugee status,” a Liberal Party politician said. “What we are saying is that people who are genuine refugees ... should be coming with their identity documents because that gives them maximum opportunity to demonstrate their bona fides.”

At the same time the current Australian Government is working with Indonesia to break the people smugglers business model and reduce the number of asylum seekers trying to get to Australia by boat from Indonesia. People smugglers often provide their clients with false passports and visas to get into Indonesia. Asylum seekers then leave Indonesia by boat to try to reach Australia. The two governments will now be working together to make it harder for people to use false passports and false visas to get into Indonesia.

Survivors of Indonesian Boat Tragedy Face Uncertain Future

Of the estimated 250 asylum seekers on board the boat which capsized off the Indonesian coast in December, only 47 survived. But despite surviving the tragedy, they face an uncertain future.

Most of the asylum seekers are now being held in an Indonesian detention centre and do not know what will happen to them. Those in detention say that they still haven’t been visited by UNHCR. Five have asked to be returned to their homes in Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq and Turkey. The rest are desperate and say that will get on another boat if they can.

The conditions in the Indonesian detention centre are bad, say the asylum seekers. “I told them I was a refugee, that I had lost my whole family,” said Dawood Waladbegi from Iran. His wife and two children died in the boat sinking. “They spat on me, beat me and told me I was in their country now and it was their rules.”

Ali Mohammad, from Afghanistan, has a black eye and two deep gashes on his legs after the detention center guards beat him for trying to escape. Survivors also said they had been hit with electrical prods after a riot when they tried to break down the detention centre's fence and threw rocks at staff.

One of the survivors who said he will return home, Esmat Adine, 24, says that he signed the forms to return to Afghanistan because he could not face being held in the detention centre in Indonesia for two years while UNHCR decided whether he was a refugee or not. Even though he fears for his life if he is sent back to Kabul, he says he will try to go to Canada instead. “If Australia doesn't accept my request I will deport myself and go directly to Kabul airport (and) to Canada,” he said.

The asylum seekers are also traumatized by violent deaths of their families and loved ones. Ten-year-old Athena Hardani from Iran was on the boat with her father, mother and sister. She is one of only three children of the twenty on board to survive. The last thing she remembers before the boat rolled over is her little sister’s face. “I learned to swim in school, but my sister Mobina didn’t,” she says. “My heart is sad because my mother and sister are not here. I know nothing about them.”

Athena was rescued soon after the boat capsized by a passing fishing boat but her father, Mohammad, spent three days clinging to the wreckage of the boat before being picked up by a ferry which happened to be in the area. “We spent three days and two nights that way,” he said. “I thought, ‘I can’t leave my little girl in this harsh world, I must live. I owe her my life.’” The 36-year-old welder from Ahvaz in Iran said that letting go of his younger daughter, eight-year-old Mobina, was the hardest thing he has ever done. “I think my wife had a heart attack from shock, but there was nothing I could do for my little girl.” Father and daughter are believed to be the only related survivors and were reunited by Indonesian authorities on Friday 23rd December 2011.

Another survivor spoke of what he had seen while waiting to be rescued. “Most of the people came out through the windows and died in front of our eyes,” said Syed, a Pakistani Hazara. “I saw their dead bodies floating on the sea. We witnessed all of this madness, death in the water for six hours.”

Jamble, a 25-year-old local fisherman, owns one of the fishing boats that rescued the first group of survivors. He says that he spotted several dark dots from his small wooden fishing vessel and decided to look closer. He and his three crew members were horrified when they saw hysterical and exhausted people clinging to anything that floated. He says the survivors immediately started swimming towards his boat. “They were all fighting, scrambling to get into my boat,” Jamble said. And although he only had room for 10 more people he managed to get 25 asylum seekers onto the boat. He says many of them injured and were begging for water to drink. Those left behind were screaming and crying. “I'm so sad ... I feel so guilty, but there were just too many of them.” “I was worried if we took any more we'd sink too,” he said.

Some people travelled to Indonesia from Australia after the tragedy to see if any of the family or friends had survived. Jeremy Jafari, an Afghan Australian, broke down at Bhayangkara Hospital in Surabaya after police showed him a photo of the body of his sister. “I'm certain it's my younger sister,” he said, crying. “I saw a physical mark on her body.” He was supported by Said Abbas Sultani, another Afghan living in Australia who had also travelled to Indonesia to search for members of his wife's family from Iran.

The Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency said they had only been able to find 101 dead bodies from the accident. “We have not found anymore bodies over the past two days, so we decided to stop our search and rescue efforts,” they said.

The Australian Government blamed the tragedy on people smugglers. “They’re in the business of making money and they don’t care if it kills people or not,” the Home Affairs Minister said.

The boat journey from Indonesia to Australia is very dangerous. In November another boat, carrying about 70 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan capsized in the same area off Indonesia and at least eight people died.