VZCZCXRO6648
PP RUEHDT RUEHPT
DE RUEHBY #0945/01 2950615
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 220615Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2161
INFO RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0300
RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI 0208
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 1195
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 0653
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 5546
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH 4987
RUEHBN/AMCONSUL MELBOURNE 6721
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY 4983
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2030

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CANBERRA 000945 
 
NOFORN 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR PRM AND SA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/21/2019 
TAGS: SMIG PREF ELAB ECON AS
SUBJECT: INDONESIA PLAYING KEY ROLE IN STOPPING ARRIVALS 
 
REF: CANBERRA 934 
 
Classified By: Counselor for Political and Economic Affairs Edgard D. K 
agan: Reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) 
 
¶1.  (C/NF) Summary:  The series of recent high-profile cases 
of ship-borne asylum seekers trying to come to Australia is 
putting pressure on Prime Minister Rudd to depend on 
Indonesia's continued cooperation to help staunch the flow. 
Australia is also working with Malaysia, which they believe 
is an important transit point, and Sri Lanka, which is the 
main source of recent asylum seekers.  PM Rudd successfully 
raised these issues with his Malaysian and Indonesian 
counterparts on the margins of President Yudhoyono's 
inauguration.  While Yudhoyono has agreed to accept 78 asylum 
seekers intercepted October 18 between the two countries, 
defusing the recent stand off between Australia and 
Indonesia, the government will have to manage the issue 
carefully to ensure it does not become a liability in the 
next election or Australia's campaign for a UN Security 
Council seat.  End Summary. 
 
DFAT confident of cooperation 
----------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C/NF) Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's (DFAT) 
People Smuggling, Refugees and Immigration Director Sonya 
Koppe emphasized that recent Indonesian interdictions of 
asylum-carrying vessels are not occasional occurrences.  The 
Indonesians are regularly stopping the movement of 
undocumented refugees from their ports.  This cooperation 
grew out of bilateral agreements stretching back to the 2002 
Bali Process and 2006 Lombok Treaty, which emphasized 
security cooperation between Australian and Indonesian 
police, customs, and military.  Since September 2008, 
Indonesia has disrupted 81 smuggling ventures, and these 
interdictions by Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka have 
prevented at least 1,237 people from reaching Australia. 
Koppe said Prime Minister Rudd and President Yudhoyono are 
frequently on the phone and the asylum crisis is becoming a 
frequent topic of conversation as the numbers of refugees 
from conflict areas around the world increases. 
 
Towards a new framework 
----------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C/NF)) Australia plans to provide significantly more 
funding to Indonesia for pursuit of asylum seeker boats, 
detention centers, deportations, and intelligence sharing. 
PM Rudd met with President Yudhoyono October 20 to introduce 
Australian ideas toward the formulation of a fixed security 
framework and division of responsibilities for ship-borne 
asylum seeker interdictions between Indonesia and Australia 
under the Lombok Treaty's provisions.  Senior officials in 
both countries will be discussing this framework in meetings 
over the next few weeks. 
 
¶4.  (C/NF) President Yudhoyono's agreement to accept the most 
recent 78 asylum seekers picked up by an Australian Customs 
vessel in international waters that fall within Indonesia's 
search and rescue zone suggests Indonesian acceptance that a 
state's responsibility for the search and rescue area at sea 
determines its responsibility for the asylum seekers 
involved.  This does not alter the legal responsibility of 
the closest vessel in the area to come to the aid of ships in 
distress, but it does affect the port where they will be 
brought for processing. 
 
Processing Refugees 
------------------- 
Q------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C/NF) Department of Immigration and Citizenship's (DIAC) 
South East Asia and Bali Process Director Robert Johnston 
told us that although Indonesia is not a signatory to the 
Refugee Convention, it does not allow the return of asylum 
seekers who fear persecution in their homeland, and it is 
actively partnering with UNHCR and the International 
Organization for Migration (IOM) to resettle asylum seekers 
who enter its territories in the various signatory states. 
 
¶6.  (C/NF) DIAC is funding IOM to help house and deal with 
 
CANBERRA 00000945  002 OF 002 
 
 
Indonesian detainees.  If UNHCR finds them to be bona fide 
refugees, they are put in the pool of refugees looking for a 
state willing to take them. Of that number, Australia accepts 
approximately a third.  The asylum process can be drawn out, 
and refugees with fully recognized status can linger in IOM 
operated facilities for long periods. 
 
¶7.  (C/NF) DIAC's Johnston explained that once 
Indonesian-held asylum seekers are determined to be 
non-refugees, they have two choices - if willing, IOM (with 
DIAC funding) will repatriate them; if unwilling to return to 
their point of origin, they, at least, for a while become 
part of the Indonesian population, provided they have no 
criminal record.  Indonesia does not have legislation that 
forces migrants to return to their home countries and many of 
these people start looking for smugglers almost immediately. 
 
¶8.  (C/NF) All asylum seekers arriving in Australian 
monitored waters are processed on Christmas Island for 
health, security, and character status.  If that facility 
becomes too crowded, those who have been screened for health 
and security, but not yet received their UNHCR refugee bona 
fides, will be moved to mainland detention centers to make 
room for new arrivals.  Mainland centers usually provide for 
airport arrivals without proper documentation.  Australian 
processing times have to be under 90-days by statute. 
 
Incentives to Indonesia? 
----------------------- 
 
¶9.  (C/NF ) As the Australian-Indonesian talks on asylum 
seekers continues, the local and international press is 
hammering the Australian Immigration and Home Affairs 
Ministers on what Indonesia is getting for their cooperation. 
 DFAT and the ministers will not give figures to the press 
and they repeat the mantra that helping Indonesia deal with 
asylum seekers financially has a long history and had a 
growth spurt during the Howard government.  DFAT insists that 
Indonesia is acting as an equal partner and that has 
internationally positive consequences for the Yudhoyono 
government; however, money is flowing to UNHCR and IOM 
operations in Indonesia, and any increase in Indonesian naval 
and air surveillance of their sea area increases costs and 
Australia will have to help foot the bill. 
 
Australia counting on Indonesia 
------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (C/NF) Comment:  Rudd is putting a lot of faith in 
Indonesia to stop the flow of boats, rather than toughening 
immigration laws as the previous government did.  This is 
partially related to the unprecedented strong relationship 
between the two countries.  But Yudhoyono will not be in 
power indefinitely and cooperation has had its ups and downs 
over the years.  Rudd's high popularity has not been affected 
by the surge of boats, but this could change if the policy 
proves unsuccessful.  End Comment. 
 
CLUNE