Indonesia vows to stop boat people

By SCOTT MacLEOD

Indonesia says it will intercept boat people heading for New Zealand and Australia, easing scares of packed vessels steaming from Southeast Asia.

At a regional conference on people smuggling, being held in Bali, Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda said it was against Government policy to help boat people reach Australian waters and indicated there would be a law change to outlaw people-smuggling.



Mr Wirajuda said Indonesia was likely to call in the International Organisation for Migration to deal with intercepted boats. The favoured option was to send the asylum seekers home.

Mr Wirajuda's comments suggest a major policy shift after allegations that Indonesia had been refuelling boats and putting them back to sea.

New Zealand accepted more than 140 asylum seekers rescued from a sinking boat off the Australian coast in August 2001.

Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff said Mr Wirajuda's comments were good news. However, there was a problem, "given the size and nature of Indonesia".

"The difficulty is that what is said at central government level does not always translate to local government level," he said. "The refuelling and reprovisioning of the boats that has occurred has been by local governments."

Mr Goff said New Zealand wanted the boats stopped in transit countries and the people on board processed by an international group. Genuine asylum seekers should be resettled and those who were not should be sent home, he said.

New Zealand would continue to fill its quota of 750 refugees a year.

Amnesty International used the forum to attack Australia for what it called the intentional and harsh treatment of asylum seekers, such as those detained on Nauru.

Amnesty said policies such as Australia's created two types of state - the rich ones that accepted whichever refugees they pleased, and the poor ones that were forced to host large numbers of refugees.

This week's conference, organised by Indonesia and Australia, is being attended by delegates from 30 nations.