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A senior Australian government official is to meet with Indonesian authorities to discuss the growing problem of illegal immigrants, Australia’s ambassador to Jakarta said on Thursday.
  “Australia has forwarded some points regarding the illegal immigrant issue. A senior government official will visit Indonesia anytime soon to discuss common policies to deal with the problem,” Ambassador Bill Farmer said.
  No date was given for the meeting, which is intended to address the trend seen over the last two years of more illegal immigrants using Indonesia as a gateway to enter Australia.
  Australia and Indonesia co-chaired the Bali Process in 2002, which brought together representatives from 38 countries to work on measures to combat people trafficking and associated transnational crime in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
  Farmer said several bilateral and multiparty meetings concerning migration had been held since the Bali Process.
  He added that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had committed to work together on the issue.
  “So far, police and immigration officers from Indonesia and Australia have been cooperating well in tackling this problem. However, both parties need to agree on policies regarding the asylum seekers’ fate,” Farmer said.
  Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, meaning asylum seekers stranded in the country are processed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration. They often are forced to wait — most for many years — to be resettled.
  Immigration has become a major headache for the Rudd government and both countries face many challenges if they are to achieve common ground. The most recent case is instructive.
  In Merak, West Java, 240 Sri Lankan immigrant who had been attempting to reach Australia have been holed-up on a cargo vessel for more than three months, refusing to come ashore because they fear they will have to wait years for resettlement.
  A statement by the Australian Foreign Ministry was unambiguous as to where the responsibility lay. “The disembarkation of the passengers on the Merak vessel is a matter for the Indonesian government to resolve,” it said.
  The Australian government receives about 13,500 refugees per year but the Christmas Island detention center is almost full and immigration detention centers in Indonesia have also reached full capacity.

  Antara