Steve Holland – Five Australians stranded in Indonesia for almost nine months believe the Australian government is not doing enough to secure their release.
The five were detained in September 2008 for allegedly flying into Papua province without valid visas. In April they thought they were on their way home, but the case is still before the courts.
It was supposed to be a weekend joyride when William Scott-Bloxam, his wife Vera and friends Karen Burke, Hubert Hofer and Keith Mortimer left north Queensland in a light plane bound for Papua. Now the so-called Merauke Five are still stranded after being detained for illegally flying their plane in the province.
Mr Scott-Bloxam said the Australian Government is doing little to help, aside from ensuring the five have a healthy supply of Vegemite. "That is the only thing we are sure of," he said.
Mr Scott-Bloxam and the four he is trapped with have been stranded for almost nine months, including six weeks in jail for allegedly violating visa laws. He says he is baffled by the case.
"We're obviously criminals of the first class, whilst we did not steal anything, or anything like that," he said. "We have spent time in jail. I just have no words to describe it, none of us can understand."
In north Queensland friends of the Merouke Five, like Mark Bousen, want answers.
"I just appeal to everyone who understands and can sense the total injustice of this issue of five people who have done nothing wrong other than being silly, to pressure the government, to pressure their local representatives and say 'what the hell are doing about this," he said. "These people are rotting in a foreign country with no support."
Mark Bousen is also the editor of Torres News. He questions why the Australian Government's role in the recent release of a woman accused a stealing a bar mat in Thailand seemed far more effective than diplomatic efforts to help the Merauke Five.
"The situation with the bar mat lady... there are far more votes to be had in Melbourne, there are far more seats in Melbourne, [Prime Minister Kevin] Rudd was a prime mover in getting that lady home, according to her legal representatives," he said.
"Rudd has been conspicuous by his absence since this thing came to the surface on the 12th of September last year. "I don't even know whether Rudd knows about it because he never talks about it."
The circumstances surrounding the case of the Merauke Five appear murky. They were arrested for arriving in Indonesia's Papua province without a valid visa.
After a stint in jail, they were released from prison on humanitarian grounds in March, although confined to Merauke, while their lawyer prepared their appeal.
Last month the High Court in Jayapura overturned their convictions and they were permitted to return to Australia in their plane. But prosecutors blocked their departure, launched action to overturn the High Court's decision and effectively left the Merauke Five stranded again.
Their lawyer, Mohammed Rifan, believes the actions taken by prosecutors contradicts the law. He says the prosecutors should not have been permitted to take such a course, and now he is taking the case to the Supreme Court.
"We got the information from the Supreme Court staff and this case must be handled sensitively," he said. "It is our concern too – why is this case taking so long? For a normal criminal case like this it is usually very quick, below six months."
The Merauke Five's lengthy stay is partly the result of complications within Indonesia's legal system. It is unusual for a case of this nature to take so long to filter through Indonesia's justice system.
Mr Ifran points out that, under article 244, prosecutors should not have been permitted to challenge the High Court's decision.
But Professor Tim Lindsey Director of the Asian Law Centre at the University of Melbourne, believes the crux of the problem rests with geographical issues rather than legal complications such as debates concerning the use of article 244.
"I think the problem is not so much to do with that particular provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure but more to do with the situation on the ground in Papua," he said.
"What I mean by that is that the situation might not be so dramatic if it had occurred somewhere else in Indonesia. "I think you have to keep in mind that Indonesia regards Papua as a no-go area for foreigners except with permission. It's a closed area."