Jakarta – Indonesia's navy said on Wednesday it would not detain any asylum seekers found on boats in the country's waters and would even feed needy refugees before they resumed their journey.

The comments by navy spokesman First Admiral Franky Kayhatu are a blow to efforts to combat a growing regional boatpeople crisis and could fuel a row with Australia, the destination of the mainly Middle Eastern and Afghani refugees.

"If they need humanitarian assistance such as food, we would give this to them on the water," Kayhatu told Reuters. "We are not going to arrest them. If they want to continue [their journey], then no problem, as long as they don't remain in Indonesian waters. We have a duty to evict them from our waters."

Thousands of asylum seekers have used Indonesia as a staging post to sail to Australia in the past few years, but in recent months there has been a marked increase in the number of rickety boats making the treacherous journey south.

Earlier this month, a fishing boat sank off Java island and 350 asylum seekers died in the mishap. Only 44 people survived.

That prompted Jakarta to announce it would host a meeting with Australia and other Asian nations to discuss the crisis. Government officials were not immediately available to comment on the navy's stance.