ID :
43469
Sat, 01/31/2009 - 07:41
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https://www.oananews.org//node/43469
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FOREIGN MINISTRY ADMITS EXTRADITION AN OPTION FOR BOAT PEOPLE
Jakarta, Jan 30 (ANTARA) - Spokesman for the foreign ministry Teuku Faizasyah admitted there was an option to the deportation of 193 boat people who came from Bangladesh and Myanmar who had landed in Sabang, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, early in January 2009.
"The option to deport them once surfaced, but the final decision is still awaiting the results of further investigations," he said here on Friday to comment on the fate of the boat people in Aceh.
According to him, the option to deport them was once raised but his side had to wait for the result of interviews of the boat people by a foreign ministry team on January 9-10, 2009. It appeared that they left their countries due to economic hardship.
He also said that in the past two days the foreign ministry had sent a team to make a verification of all the boat people.
"The team was in the company of interpreters for the urdu language of the Bangladeshis and rohing for the Myanmarese, and the verification is still underway," he said.
Faizasyah said that the government hoped the case could be immediately settled on account of the local government's financial capacity to continuously facilitate humanitarian aid for 193 boat people.
As there were so many boat people, the interview would last a week, as the team needed one hour to interrogate each of them.
The government will provide them access to their country for contacts with their relatives after the completion of the verification process.
Following the government's decision to close access to the media to meet with the boat people, Faizasyah said it had to be taken to enable the verification to run without the intervention of outsiders.
"Nothing is kept confidential. We only want to let the process of verification run in a neutral manner and access will be opened after the completion of verification," he said.
"Our priority is to settle the problems of the 193 boat people," he stressed.
Hundreds of foreigners were found stranded in Indonesian waters on January 7, 2009 at about 09:00 in a boat without an engine or name.
Mohammad, one of the boat people, said he and others decided to cross the border into Bangladesh, where he worked as a fisherman until he was able to earn enough money to pay for a boat to go to Malaysia at $430.
The Myamarese military regime has brutally repressed groups and millions have risked their lives fleeing the country.
The Rohingya, who are believed to originate from 7th century Arab settlers whose state was conquered by the Burmese in 1784, faced religious persecution because they were Muslims in a Buddhist-majority country. The Human Rights Watch said in its latest annual report they faced forced relocation, land seizures, and denial of citizenship and identity papers.
The State Department agreed, saying they "experienced severe legal, economic, and social discrimination."
Muhammad (a rohingya) and others set off in their rickety wooden boat on Dec. 16 with a captain who seemed not to know the way.
The men were picked up and beaten by the Myanmarese navy who held them for two days, he said.
When they reached Thailand, they were again taken into custody and pummeled before being cast adrift in a boat that had been stripped of its engine and emptied of fuel, Mohammad said.
"The boat was leaking badly," he said. "The water started rising inside. Finally, it was a foot deep and we started to sink. We prayed to Allah, we asked him to save us."
A fishing boat spotted them off Indonesia's westernmost coast and alerted the navy, which brought the 193 men to shore on Jan. 7 as it was on the verge of sinking. All the men were from Myanmar except 17, who said they were from Bangladesh.
Many were too weak to stand and were hospitalized in Sabang.
"The option to deport them once surfaced, but the final decision is still awaiting the results of further investigations," he said here on Friday to comment on the fate of the boat people in Aceh.
According to him, the option to deport them was once raised but his side had to wait for the result of interviews of the boat people by a foreign ministry team on January 9-10, 2009. It appeared that they left their countries due to economic hardship.
He also said that in the past two days the foreign ministry had sent a team to make a verification of all the boat people.
"The team was in the company of interpreters for the urdu language of the Bangladeshis and rohing for the Myanmarese, and the verification is still underway," he said.
Faizasyah said that the government hoped the case could be immediately settled on account of the local government's financial capacity to continuously facilitate humanitarian aid for 193 boat people.
As there were so many boat people, the interview would last a week, as the team needed one hour to interrogate each of them.
The government will provide them access to their country for contacts with their relatives after the completion of the verification process.
Following the government's decision to close access to the media to meet with the boat people, Faizasyah said it had to be taken to enable the verification to run without the intervention of outsiders.
"Nothing is kept confidential. We only want to let the process of verification run in a neutral manner and access will be opened after the completion of verification," he said.
"Our priority is to settle the problems of the 193 boat people," he stressed.
Hundreds of foreigners were found stranded in Indonesian waters on January 7, 2009 at about 09:00 in a boat without an engine or name.
Mohammad, one of the boat people, said he and others decided to cross the border into Bangladesh, where he worked as a fisherman until he was able to earn enough money to pay for a boat to go to Malaysia at $430.
The Myamarese military regime has brutally repressed groups and millions have risked their lives fleeing the country.
The Rohingya, who are believed to originate from 7th century Arab settlers whose state was conquered by the Burmese in 1784, faced religious persecution because they were Muslims in a Buddhist-majority country. The Human Rights Watch said in its latest annual report they faced forced relocation, land seizures, and denial of citizenship and identity papers.
The State Department agreed, saying they "experienced severe legal, economic, and social discrimination."
Muhammad (a rohingya) and others set off in their rickety wooden boat on Dec. 16 with a captain who seemed not to know the way.
The men were picked up and beaten by the Myanmarese navy who held them for two days, he said.
When they reached Thailand, they were again taken into custody and pummeled before being cast adrift in a boat that had been stripped of its engine and emptied of fuel, Mohammad said.
"The boat was leaking badly," he said. "The water started rising inside. Finally, it was a foot deep and we started to sink. We prayed to Allah, we asked him to save us."
A fishing boat spotted them off Indonesia's westernmost coast and alerted the navy, which brought the 193 men to shore on Jan. 7 as it was on the verge of sinking. All the men were from Myanmar except 17, who said they were from Bangladesh.
Many were too weak to stand and were hospitalized in Sabang.
