A boat with 44 Sri Lankans, including a pregnant woman and nine children, who said they were on their way to Australia, have been found off of Aceh, a northern province of Indonesia.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Local fishermen discovered the boat at 11 am on Saturday in Lhoknga in the district of Aceh Besar.
Lhoknga police chief Zainudin told Fairfax Media the Sri Lankans did not have any passports or travel documents.
"They said they wanted to go to Australia but there was engine trouble. They didn't look like people who needed food. Their faces looked happy. They didn't ask for food either.
He said the boat appeared to be a modified fisherman's boat, made of iron, which had a capacity to carry 100 passengers.
Mr Zainudin said the Sri Lankans remained on the boat, about one kilometre off shore.
"Actually we wanted them to leave now but the wind is very big as well as the waves. So I think we have to wait until the weather is better than they will have to leave Lhoknga waters."
The chief of immigration in Aceh, Ahmad Samadan, told Fairfax Media the 44 Sri Lankans - 20 men, 15 women and nine children - had asked to continue their journey to Christmas Island.
"We are trying to negotiate with them to advise them to return to their country and not to continue to Australia," he said.
"We are trying to reach their boat again today but so far we can't because of high waves."
He said the boat engine was experiencing problems and they had to stop every few kilometres to let it cool down. "When they stopped at Lhoknga they were spotted by locals."
"We went to their boat yesterday. Their health is fine, they have plenty of logistics on board. They said they were headed to Christmas Island, Australia."
Lhoknga military commander Major Darul Amin said immigration would not allow the Sri Lankans to disembark from the boat because they did not have travel documents.
He said technicians had been sent to examine the engines but they turned out to be fine. "I think it was just a modus operandi," Major Darul said.
"We will go back to their boat today (Sunday) at around 3pm and if they do need food or gasoline we will provide it. Then they have to leave our waters."
International Organisation for Migration Jakarta spokesman Paul Dillon said the IOM had been approached by authorities on Saturday advising it of a vessel in Lhoknga with mechanical problems that had foreign nationals on board.
"We indicated we were prepared to assist with the provision of services IOM normally provides and we are just waiting to hear back," he said.
Mr Dillon said the IOM had offices in Lhoknga, Medan and Aceh and was well placed to assist with translation and medical services and providing logistical support to local authorities in deciding where best to place the people.
The UN Refugee Agency said it was co-ordinating with the Indonesian government.
As of January there were 13,679 refugees and asylum seekers registered with the UNHCR in Indonesia, many of whom have been stuck in transit for years.
Australia resettled 808 refugees from Indonesia in 2013, according to UNHCR figures. This dropped to 526 in 2014 and 425 in 2015.
Indonesia is not a signatory to the UN refugee convention and refugees cannot legally work there while waiting for resettlement in a third country.
Last year the people of Aceh helped hundreds of Rohingya asylum seekers who were fleeing persecution in Myanmar during the refugee and trafficking crisis.
Local communities donated clothes, soap, rice, instant noodles and money and helped provide shelter.
The head of the Tamiang Farmers and Fishermen Association, Muhammad Hendra, told Fairfax Media at the time that the Acehnese remained grateful for the assistance provided by others in the wake of the 2004 tsunami.
"In all of those disasters, we were helped by outsiders, both by non-Aceh people and by foreigners," he said. "The help was provided without looking at our background, such as our religion. So now, we have the Rohingya and Bangladeshi people stranded on our land, they've been weeks, maybe months at sea and it's worse than what we experienced with the tsunami."
Indonesia and Malaysia eventually agreed to offer temporary shelter to 7000 Bangladeshi migrants and Rohingya refugees on the proviso they would be resettled by the international community within a year.
This has been extended given the global refugee crisis.
However as of March only 300 of the 1000 Rohingyas taken in by Indonesia remain in the temporary accommodation set up in North Sumatra and Aceh, with many believed to have paid people smugglers to take them to Malaysia.
With Amilia Rosa and Karuni Rompies
*/
]]>
