ASYLUM SEEKERS MAKE INDONESIA TRANSIT POINT

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Sept 27 (ANTARA) - In the past several years, Indonesia has become a transit point for illegal immigrants from various countries seeking asylum in Australia.              This year alone, based on ANTARA's rough records, at least 1,500 illegal immigrants seeking asylum in Australia have been stranded in Indonesia or have been arrested by the Indonesian authorities for further investigation.              They came from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other Middle East countries. On their way to Australia, they ran ashore or were stranded in various provinces in Indonesia.               Up to September this year, Indonesian authorities have handled at least 900 illegal asylum seekers in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, 147 in Mataram (West Nusa Tenggara), 160 in Karawang (West Java), 93 in Padang (West Java), 60 in Madiun (East Java), 55 in Cilegon (Banten), 53 in Serang (Banten), 23 in Sukabumi (West Java), 23 in Lampung and 6 in Bali.               Around 900 asylum seekers ran ashore in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara alone, this year. East Nusa Tenggara is considered an ideal transit point as Australia is just a short boat ride from the province.              The head of the local immigration office of Kupang, Silvester Sili Laba, stated recently that the biggest arrest was made in June, when 87 illegal immigrants were arrested in Sumba waters.              He said that all the illegal immigrants were held at the immigration detention centres, but 11 of them managed to escape and were still at large.             "For the immigrants from Middle-Eastern countries as well as those from Afghanistan and Pakistan, the East Nusa Tenggara waters offer the safest transit route to Australia, which is their dreamland of freedom and hope," Silvester noted.              "The fishermen get lured by the big sums of money that the immigrants offer in exchange for transportation to Australia. They do not consider the dangers involved or the law. Rote, Sabu, Sumba and Kupang islands are the usual points of departure," Silvester went on.              Indonesia's federal director for consular affairs Chalief Akbar pointed out that human smuggling had become a lucrative business.              "According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), such issues constitute the dark side of globalization and have created new problems for recipient countries," he added.              The most recent case was the arrest of 160 illegal immigrants from Afghanistan in Karawang, West Java.              However, 38 of them fled before they reached Karawang and 13 others fled before being sent to Cisarua on Wednesday.              The immigration office of Karawang sent 109 illegal immigrants to the Cisarua detention center in Bogor, West Java.              The immigration office could not hold the illegal immigrants too long in Karawang as there is no accommodation facility for them in the city, according to M Tito Andrianto, an official of the Karawang Immigration Office.              Tito said that the illegal immigrants were sent to Cisarua for their own convenience and safety.              ¿When they were at the Hajj dormitory, the illegal immigrants always tried to break away,¿ he said.   There was no immediate information available on how the Afghans came to the country on their way to Australia.              The second biggest number of arrests of illegal immigrants took place in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB). From January to August this year, a total of 147 asylum seekers were arrested by police and military personnel in the area.              Of the 147, 41 managed to flee and the remaining immigrants were detained across different detention centres.              "We held them in various detention centres in Mataram because we don¿t have one in Lombok, yet," Dorhan of the Mataram Immigration office said.              A similar case was reported in West Sumatra, where as many as 96 undocumented Sri Lankan immigrants were arrested in the Mentawai Islands in Padang after they arrived illegally travelling by two sea-routes.             "We moved off by using two boats, one left from Sri Lanka and the other from India," one of the immigrants, Ravi Kumar, told officers from the International Organization for Migration (IOM)  last week.             The two groups departed from the two locations and met up in Mentawai, where one boat malfunctioned.  The boat from India departed with 43 illegal immigrants, while the other left Sri Lanka with 53 illegal immigrants. The 96 undocumented immigrants were on their way to Australia.              The group of 53 immigrants from Sri Lanka has been held in the Sikakap sports hall in the Mentawai Islands district, while the other immigrants were sent to an immigration detention center in Pekanbaru on Thursday morning.              Padang immigration authorities have moved 43 out of the 96 immigrants from Sri Lanka to the immigration detention centre in Pekanbaru for further investigation.              In Madiun, East Java, head of the immigration office Hermansyah Siregar said that they held 60 illegal immigrants from the Middle East, who had been arrested by police in the Pacitan regency, early this month.              Hermansyah said that 51 of the illegal immigrants were from Iraq, five from Kuwait and four from Iran. The gender classification stood at 54 men, three women and three children.              "We do not know yet if they are political refugees seeking asylum. We have yet to make investigations," he said.              However, two weeks ago, 21 of the 60 illegal immigrants detained at the Indah Hotel in Madiun escaped.   According to initial reports, the immigrants broke the glass windows of their rooms, climbed up the hotel's walls and jumped on to the roofs of the adjoining houses during their night-time escape.              Besides that, police in Sukabumi, West Java last week arrested 23 illegal immigrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan, planning to cross over to Australia from Cisolok and Pelabuhan Ratu.              "There were arrested following reports from villagers who were suspicious of the presence of foreigners in Karanghawu beach," deputy chief of the Sukabumi resort police, Commissioner Pilemon Ginting, said.              He suspected that the immigrants were believed to have come from Cisarua, Bogor and West Java and were caught while trying to travel to Australia at around 10.30am.              "All of the immigrants would be taken to the immigration office in Sukabumi," he said.              In the tourist resort province of Bali, five illegal immigrants from Afghanistan and Pakistan were arrested at the port of Padangbai, in the regency of Karangasem.              Only two of them had immigration documents, according to Karangasem police chief spokesman Adj. Comr. Made Wartama. He said that they landed in Padangbai from the port of Lembar in Lombok, using a ferry boat.              After questioning them, the police then handed them over to the immigration office in Denpasar.              "We don't have to continue the investigation. This case belongs to the immigration office,¿ Made said. ***1*** (T.A014/A/KR-BSR/O001) 27-09-2012 15:28:5