Not Refugees – Just People Seeking Refuge

Monday, 5th February, 2007  - Richard Farmer 
The next time a boat load of Papuans arrives off the north Australian coast Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews will have a perfect answer for denying them access. He will just have to apply the definition given this week by an Indonesian official to some 2000 people who have left their homes near the Yamo river and are now facing starvation. According to Yamo district head Philipus Tabuni, as recent revelation in the Jakarta Post those fleeing were not classified as refugees, but only as people seeking refuge!
At least there has been some change in Indonesia There might be a novel definition of refugee but the press is now more open and frank about discussing the country’s problems. The recent stories in the Jakarta Post clearly suggest that Australia has not heard the last about problems in West Papua. According to the paper, thousands of people fleeing a crackdown on Papuan separatists are now facing food shortages following police attacks on Free Papua Movement (FPM) rebels inYamo.
The Evangelical Church of Indonesia (GIDI) reports, says the paper, that 5,137 people are now facing hunger while the military puts the figure at 2000. Rev. Herman Saud, speaking from Jayapura said "people are afraid to venture out of the village, while outsiders are afraid to come to the village for fear of being hit by stray bullets." Herman said the situation was reported to the governor, the provincial legislature, the Papua People's Council and the chiefs of the provincial police and military command, but none of them had agreed to discuss the problem.

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