Yoseph Kellen – The Kupang immigration office in East Nusa Tenggara has prepared 5,000 square meters of land on the island of Sumba as a temporary shelter to house asylum seekers denied entry to Australia, an official said.

"Today, the shelters in the Rudenim [Immigration Detention Center] and at the Kupang Immigration Office are full," Kupang Immigration office chief Silvester Sili Laba said. "We have prepared the area, in the Central Sumba district to temporarily host illegal immigrants."

According to Silvester the measures had been discussed since the 1980s, in anticipation of the Australian government turning back asylum seekers to Indonesian waters.

Responding to the announcement, the East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) regional government dismissed reports about the construction of a temporary immigrant shelter in the region, saying such a plan was not possible as Indonesia was not the asylum seekers' final destination. The regional administration did, however, admit the current facilities were full.

Sisilia Sona, chairman of the Political Nation and Public Protection Union said that additional immigrants were being accommodated temporarily at the Inna Boi Hotel in Kupang, funded by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Sisilia underlined that illegal immigrants' entrance into NTT had been caused by strict patrols by the Australian government, which has recently moved to turn back asylum seekers to islands including the Sumba, Sabu, Rote and the Sikka-Flores area.

She also cited reports that said an estimated 70,000 more illegal immigrants from the Middle East were now being held in Malaysia and may be transferred to Indonesia as the UNHCR and IOM offices in Malaysia were not operating.

"If we don't anticipate this, then NTT may eventually be a destination for illegal immigrants," Sisilia said, adding that the government of Indonesia should improve its air and water security so as to control the entries. "The security is still very week, and the central government needs to take this issue seriously as part of its responsibility," she said.

Reports of the temporary immigration shelters' construction have also received mixed responses from other officials.

Central Sumba district head Umbu Sappi Pateduk confirmed that the local immigration office possessed a certificate stipulating its ownership of the 5,000 square meters of land.

But he emphasized that further talks will need to be held prior to construction. "This needs to be discussed with the public... especially considering many of the people in Sumba are still deep in poverty and need the government's aid," he said.

Umbu said the plan had been initiated prior to the splitting of Central and East Sumba into two separate districts. The official also said that there had been talks about moving the location of the shelter to Galang Island.

"But there was no follow-up on the plan and people started living on that land and turned it into a settlement," Umbu said. "This is why we need discussions – to make sure the shelter is not built somewhere packed with residents," he added.

Separately, chief of immigration for NTT's regional justice and law department Weisner Sitompu played down the reports, saying there was yet to be any real plans on the matter. "It's just talk right now, to say it's going ahead isn't true," he said.

Diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Australia have been difficult since that country's prime minister, Tony Abbott, took office last September, promising to have Australia's navy turn asylum-seekers away at sea and break the business of people traffickers operating from Indonesian ports.

The Australian government was forced to apologize last month after Australian Navy and Customs vessels repeatedly trespassed several kilometers into Indonesian waters as they escorted boats containing asylum seekers.