Greg Roberts – The number of people crossing illegally from the Indonesian province of West Papua into Australia may be much greater than was thought.
"All the time there are Papuans coming over in the small boats to the Torres Strait islands," said Evrardus Kaise, a refugee from the strife-torn province who works as a meatworker in Ipswich, west of Brisbane. "People have to get away from the killing and everything else by the Indonesians."
The arrival of 43 Papuan asylum-seekers in a boat on Cape York Peninsula two weeks ago has unsettled relations between Canberra and Jakarta, with John Howard rejecting demands from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for their immediate return.
The Prime Minister has told Dr Yudhoyono that applications for refugee status from the Papuans, who are in the Christmas Island detention centre, will be processed in accordance with Australian laws and Australia's international treaty obligations.
Mr Kaise said it was not unusual for Papuans to cross the Indonesia-Papua New Guinea border before crossing to Australia, as he had done.
He fled his village, near Merauke in West Papua, in 1987 to a refugee camp in PNG. He then took a boat to Australia's Saibai Island, just a few kilometres from the southern PNG coast. "The Indonesian military is torturing our people," Mr Kaise said. "They robbed us of our land, they stole our country. They still do these things."
Mr Kaise worked as a cray fisherman in the Torres Strait before being granted permanent residency in 1995. "I would be dead if I stayed there. I hope the Government will be kind to the ones who are here now."
Saibai Island Council chairman Jensen Warusam said because Australia's treaty with PNG allowed the movement of PNG nationals through Torres Strait waters, it was difficult to identify West Papuans. "They can come over the border and we do not always know about it," Mr Warusam said. "We have a lot of sympathy for these Papuans. They are our fellow Melanesians."
The Immigration Department said 25 officers were deployed to deter illegal immigrants in the Torres Strait. "Someone from West Papua is treated the same as an unauthorised person from any other country," a department spokesman said.
On Christmas Island, the 43 asylum-seekers have been interviewed and the initial screening process has been completed. A decision on their fate is expected later this month.