RI reassures Oz on visas, cattle

JAKARTA. Top Indonesian and Australian envoys met here on Monday amid a growing number of problems involving the two neighboring states, ranging from people smuggling and cattle imports to escalating tensions in the region.

During the meeting Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd sought clarification from his Indonesian counterpart Marty Natalegawa about Indonesia’s new policy relaxing visa processing for citizens of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, formerly among 13 countries on its immigration red list.

Marty said he had told Rudd that the new policy did not mean visas-on-arrival nor visa exemptions for Sri Lankan and Bangladeshi citizens.

“The same kind of consideration will be gone through for each visa application. But this time instead of here in Jakarta it will be carried out in the countries concerned,” Marty told the press.

Australia is reportedly worried by the new policy, as it is expected to boost people smuggling and the number of refugees trying to reach Australia through Indonesia.

Marty, however, denied that Rudd had expressed any concerns from the Australian government regarding the new visa arrangements.

He only said that he and Rudd had agreed on the need to “identify the flow of people smuggling” activities so as to determine measures to curb them. Rudd said it was a challenge to both countries to make it “harder and harder for people smugglers” to conduct their activities.

Separately, University of Indonesia international relations expert Haryadi Wiryawan said the Monday meeting was likely prompted by Australia’s disappointment over Indonesia’s lack of responsiveness in dealing with refugee and people smuggling issues.

“The Indonesian government’s lack of action in addressing these issues is regarded as a reason why people smuggling continues. Australia isn’t happy with this,” Haryadi said.

Indonesia Center for Democracy, Diplomacy and Defense researcher Teuku Rezasyah, meanwhile, expressed suspicions that the US Darwin plan was actually high on agenda.

“This meeting seems out of the blue; it came as quite a surprise. I reckon it was probably held to specifically discuss the Darwin issue because of the latest situation,” Rezasyah said.

Marty however denied any specific talks concerning Darwin. Indonesia has previously suggested that a joint exercise for disaster relief involving several countries in the region, including China and the US, be held so as to counter suspicions regarding the US plan to deploy 2,500 marines in the Australian city.

Marty only said that Indonesia and Australia agreed on the need to further boost disaster relief cooperation among countries in the region, which was echoed by Rudd.

“[We discussed] a joint Indonesian-Australian initiative on cooperation on disaster management across the region so when the next big one [natural disaster] hits, we are better prepared as a region than we were last time,” Rudd said.

Rudd was also scheduled to meet with Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan and Agriculture Minister Suswono to discuss the cattle-import issue before leaving for a UN meeting in New York on Tuesday evening.

Australia is the largest supplier of live cattle to Indonesia and provides significant amounts of frozen meat to the archipelago. Last year’s decision by Australia to suspend cattle exports to Indonesia prompted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to instruct a cut in cattle and frozen meat imports from Australia. (Erwida Maulia/The Jakarta Post)