Rizky Amelia – Indonesia's role as a transit country for immigrants from conflict-torn countries seeking to go to Australia has highlighted the dearth of legislation to deal with the issue here, an activist says.
Ali Akbar Tanjung, from the Human Rights Working Group, said prevailing immigration laws only touched briefly on the matter of refugees. "What Indonesia needs to do is draw up a set of rules for how to properly process immigrants," he said.
He argued that a law specifically addressing this issue would improve and standardize handling of immigrants, and shift the sole burden of responsibility from the Justice and Human Rights Ministry's Directorate General of Immigration and farm it out to other government agencies, such as the Foreign Ministry and the Social Affairs Ministry.
Ali said a key point that could be addressed in such a law would be the placement of immigrants pending a response to applications to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration for placement in a third country.
He noted that currently large groups of immigrants were held at immigration detention centers across the country, but said such facilities were inappropriate because they were designed for foreigners accused of immigration offenses.
Such placement has prompted criticism over the crowded conditions and inadequate facilities. Earlier t his month, eight Myanmar Buddhists were killed at a packed detention center in a clash with members of the country's Rohingya ethnic group.
He also emphasized the need for greater dialogue with destination countries to take immigrants who had already been granted refugee status but for whom the UNHCR had still not found a willing host country.
"Our position as a transit country doesn't allow us to sit still and do nothing. We're not a destination country. That's why we need to improve communications with the countries that are," Ali said.
Ida Bagus Adniyadna, the immigration office's director of investigations, said a new law was not needed for the issue of dealing with immigrants, but acknowledged that the Foreign Ministry had raised the point.