Indonesia No Longer Blocks Asylum Boats Bound for Australia
Australia is beginning to feel the wrath of Indonesia, following the diplomatic fallout due to leaks provided by National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that Canberra wiretapped the phone of Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
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The first casualty of the downgraded relationship is Indonesia is no longer blocking asylum boats bound for Australia as Jakarta refused to take part in human smuggling cooperation.
Rustanov, the head of Indonesia's Law and Human Rights Agency in Medan, North Sumatra, said the country had stopped surveillance to halt boat traffic.
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"We have no business with Australia. Let boat people head there. No surveillance is needed," The Jakarta Post quoted Mr Rustanov.
In the past, they have arrested boat people who used Indonesia as a transit point to Australia from North Sumatra, Aceh, Depok, Blitar, Madiun, Sukabumi and Lampung and detained them for up to two years.
The boat people usually came from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Myanmar.
"Now there is no need to waste energy arresting them," Mr Rustanov added.
Upon hearing of the diplomatic row between Australia and Indonesia, reports said that several Sri Lankan asylum seekers are planning to take advantage of the situation and would attempt to cross for Christmas Island soon.
Meanwhile, with the lax Indonesian policy, Afghan asylum seekers in Cisarua found it unnecessary to pay people smugglers to bring them to Australia as they could now go on their own.
