With relations between Indonesia and Australia already at a fairly tense point thanks to the upcoming execution of convicts Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, one of the country’s most controversial politicians has stepped into the fray, threatening to release a “human tsunami” of asylum seekers if our government does not back down.
During a speech on Metro TV, Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno, the Coordinating Minister For Political, Legal And Security Affairs, said: “If Canberra keeps doing things that displease Indonesia, Jakarta will surely let the illegal immigrants go to Australia. There are more than 10,000 [asylum seekers] in Indonesia today. If they are let go to Australia, it will be like a human tsunami.”
The ‘tsunami’ reference is likely a dig at Tony Abbott, who raised the fact that our government donated $1 billion in aid money to Indonesia in the wake of the devastating 2004 tsunami when asking Indonesian President Joko Widodo to consider clemency for Chan and Sukumaran.
Abbott’s comments sparked a protest movement called #CoinForAustralia, in which Indonesians gathered coins in a symbolic gesture to repay the $1 billion. Overnight, a small group of protesters delivered five bags of coins to the Australian embassy in Jakarta; the coins were rejected, and there are plans to donate them to charity.
Tedjo, who was speaking at Gadja Mada University, said that the idea of a prisoner swap between Australia and Indonesia, as proposed by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, was “unethical.” He insisted that Indonesia respects other countries’ legal systems, and demanded that other countries do the same for them.
As for the 10,000 asylum seekers in question, Tedjo had previously supported the idea of isolating them on a remote Indonesian island, and the fact that they are now apparently human bargaining chips between our governments makes an already upsetting story even more so. This could theoretically be Australia’s chance to demonstrate that we are, in fact, a humanitarian country by just taking them all in … you know that won’t happen, though.
via Nine News
Photo: AFP via Getty Images
Photo: AFP via Getty Images
