[Kabar-indonesia] Age: RI Blamed for Rights Abuses as Wainggai's Freedom Rests on Vanstone

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

4 reports: 

- The Age: Indonesia Blamed for Rights Abuses

- The Australian: Papuan's freedom waits 
  on Vanstone

- The Age Opinion: Justice Comes Ashore

- AAP: Wainggai could be the last successful 
  asylum seeker: ALP

The Age (Melbourne)
Wednesday, August 2, 2006

Indonesia Blamed for Rights Abuses

Jewel Topsfield and Michelle Grattan, Canberra

PAPUA independence activist David Wainggai could be at risk of "serious harm" 
from Indonesian military or security forces if sent home, the Refugee Review 
Tribunal has warned.

The tribunal, which overturned a Government decision to deny protection to Mr 
Wainggai, concluded that violence and human rights abuses in Papua meant Mr 
Wainggai could come to the "adverse attention of the Indonesian authorities".

Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone yesterday refused to rule out an appeal. 
The Indonesian Government played down the finding. In Jakarta, a Foreign 
Affairs spokesman, Desra Percaya, said: "We have moved beyond the issue. It is the 
matter for Australia to resolve."

In a 24-page decision, seen by The Age, the tribunal rejected the 
Government's assertion that Mr Wainggai, 29, could be sent to Japan, where he held a 
temporary visa that expired in September.

The tribunal said he could be refused landing permission there and face "a 
real chance" of being sent to Indonesia.

Mr Wainggai claimed he feared returning to Papua because of his political 
profile, Papuan ethnicity and membership of a particular social group comprising 
his family. "The tribunal accepts that members of (his) family suffered 
various forms of punishment over a protracted period under Indonesian rule."

Support for independence had led to the "incarceration of his father, mother 
and cousin". His father was a high-profile advocate of Papuan independence who 
died serving a 20-year prison term for treason - "unfurling the flag of West 
Melanesia and for expressing his pro-independence views".

The tribunal said Mr Wainggai feared the Indonesian military and security 
forces "because the Indonesian authorities have a history of violence and 
oppression of dissidents and in particular supporters of the pro-independence 
movement.

"The Indonesian authorities will not accept or approve of (his) 
pro-independence views or his behaviour," it said.

Despite Indonesia's claims that it does not abuse human rights in Papua, the 
tribunal highlighted country information reports indicating that 
"notwithstanding current Government policy statements on obtaining peaceful resolutions of 
the Papuan situation, human rights abuses by the Indonesian police and 
military continue to occur in response to the pro-separatist movement".

Recent reports indicated that someone flying the Papua Morning Star flag 
"would have serious consequences if apprehended by the Indonesian authorities", 
the tribunal said.

Mr Wainggai said in a statutory declaration that the Indonesians had 
"poisoned my father because they don't like smart people who tell the truth" and most 
Papuans knew of someone who'd been "killed for raising our flag".

Senator Vanstone said she would read the tribunal finding before deciding on 
an appeal. "The department's decision was that the person had an entitlement 
to reside in another place (Japan) and, as I've been advised, the Refugee 
Review Tribunal is not satisfied with the ease with which that right could be taken 
up," she said.

Mr Percaya said that a meeting between Prime Minister John Howard and 
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono had determined that the two countries 
would look to the future.

Mr Wainggai arrived with 42 other Papuans, who were granted protection visas 
in March, inflaming tensions with Indonesia and leading to proposed laws -- 
still not passed because of a backbench revolt -- in which Australia would 
process future unauthorised boat arrivals on Nauru.

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The Australian
Wednesday, August 2, 2006

Papuan's freedom waits on Vanstone

by Cath Hart 

THE last of 43 Papuans whose bid for asylum triggered a row with Jakarta will 
leave Christmas Island within weeks, unless Immigration Minister Amanda 
Vanstone challenges his newly won protection visa.
Senator Vanstone has 28 days to appeal against Monday's ruling by the Refugee 
Review Tribunal to overturn an Immigration Department decision not to give 
David Wainggai avisa. 

The 29-year-old son of leading Papuan independence activists has spent almost 
six months in detention on Christmas Island. The 42 compatriots he landed 
with in a canoe near Weipa, on Cape York, in January were given visas in March. 

The move resulted in Jakarta recalling its ambassador from Canberra. 

The department did not grant Mr Wainggai a visa on the grounds he held a 
temporary visitor's visa to Japan, where his mother was born. 

Senator Vanstone said yesterday she had not decided whether to fight the 
tribunal's decision to the Federal Court. 

"I haven't even seen the decision, I've been told about it and the details of 
it," she said. 

"I think at least I should have a good look at it before I make any further 
decision." 

Senator Vanstone denied she was embarrassed the department's decision was 
overturned by the tribunal. 

"Where (the decisions) differ is that the department's decision was that the 
person had an entitlement to reside in another place," she said. "And as I've 
been advised, the Refugee Review Tribunal is not satisfied with the ease with 
which that right could be taken up." 

Mr Wainggai will remain on Christmas Island while ASIO and the Australian 
Federal Police conduct "health and character checks", an Immigration spokesman 
said. 

David Manne, lawyer for the Papuans, expected his client would be flown to 
Melbourne within weeks. "There is no reason why he shouldn't be granted a visa 
within the next few weeks," Mr Manne said. "The Government could appeal the 
decision but it's extremely rare for that to happen." 

Mr Manne said Mr Wainggai's time on Christmas Island had "taken its toll". 

"He's done it very hard, he has been profoundly distressed by the experience. 
He has found the tyranny of distance and the delay and dislocation from his 
community tremendously difficult," he said. 

The experience had "brought up the nightmares of his past", including 
memories of his father, who died in an Indonesian jail after being charged with 
treason for raising a pro-independence flag. 

Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said Mr Wainggai would be the 
last asylum-seeker able to appeal to the tribunal, because of changes to 
migration law.

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The Age (Melbourne)
Wednesday, August 2, 2006

Opinion

Justice Comes Ashore

by Michelle Grattan

Papuan asylum seeker David Wainggai is set to receive a visa - and the
Howard Government has been tripped up by its own cleverness.

JUST as the Government thought it had relations with Indonesia back on
an even keel, some unfinished business has created new waves that have
to be ridden.

David Wainggai, 29, is the last of the group of asylum seekers who
caused a conflagration in relations between the two countries, finally
doused by John Howard's personal meeting with President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono.

Unlike the other 42 in the group, Wainggai did not get a protection
visa first time round. He had a temporary Japanese visa, so the
Immigration Department claimed he could be pushed off to there.

But now Wainggai's case has been reviewed by the Refugee Review
Tribunal, which says he should get protection. It is possible he could
be refused entry to Japan, it says, and if he was there is a prospect
he could end up back in Indonesia. If he was sent home to Papua, he
would be at risk of "a real chance of serious harm". He "could be
persecuted by the Indonesian security forces or military because of
his political profile".

The Government must be rueing that Wainggai was not treated in the
same way as others and given a protection visa in the first place. The
difference between 42 and 43 visas would have been minimal to the
angry Indonesians.

Returning now in isolation, the case has the potential to stir new
angst in Indonesia. It could also reduce the already limited chance
the Federal Government has of getting through the special legislation
it has proposed to make sure any future asylum seekers from Papua who
reach the mainland are processed offshore.

The review tribunal's ruling has effectively highlighted the
protections existing when people are processed in Australia. Offshore
processing, despite some Government concessions, falls way second
best.

The immediate issue the Government faces is whether to appeal against
the Wainggai ruling to court. Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone
won't be drawn.

If the Government does not appeal, Indonesians may conclude it is
accepting the harsh judgements about human rights in Papua that come
through the tribunal's findings. If it wants to appeal, it needs to
find a legal pretext, and would be taking a very rare step. In
Australia, this would be seen as pandering to the Indonesians.

The Indonesians were informed by the Foreign Affairs Department on
Monday of the decision in an attempt to head off adverse reaction from
them. It was pointed out that this was an independent tribunal and
that the Government had no role in the decision.

The Indonesian Government does not want the Wainggai case to inject
fresh tension into the relationship. "We have moved beyond the issue,"
an Indonesian spokesman said in Jakarta. The question is whether the
issue will be taken up by the Indonesian media and some of the
nationalist politicians in Jakarta who are always willing to score a
point against Australia.

The strength of the Australia-Indonesia rapprochement forged at the
Howard-Yudhoyono meeting in June will now be tested.

The Government wished to get through the border legislation before the
June meeting to show its bona fides to Indonesia. It also wanted the
bill passed as an active deterrent to future Papuan asylum seekers.

Now it does not have the legislation and the Wainggai decision can
only encourage other Papuan separatists who both desire to get away
from Indonesia and are anxious to publicise the independence movement.

Nothing has moved on the legislation in Federal Parliament's winter
break. Rebel backbenchers don't like the bill. Apart from that, there
are specific outstanding issues, including the processing arrangements
and whether those found to be refugees would be guaranteed a place in
Australia if another home could not be found in reasonable time. This
right to come to Australia is the most vital issue. The Government
leaves open this as a "last resort", but does not want to be tied to
guarantees on time. Critics point out the Government's track record is
to leave people for excessively long times on Nauru, causing mental
trauma.

The Wainggai case is likely to put steel in the dissident
backbenchers' backbones. As one, Liberal senator Judith Troeth, said
yesterday: "This case demonstrates the present process is working." If
Howard cannot be sure of the numbers in the Senate (where Troeth is
considered the most crucial player, with National Barnaby Joyce,
Liberal Marise Payne and Family First's Steve Fielding also uncertain
numbers), he would be loath to take a risk by putting the legislation
to a vote. Even in the house, where the odd MP could cross the floor
without affecting the result, he would not want to be embarrassed by
any of his own.

In a speech in Melbourne last night, Richard Woolcott, one-time
ambassador to Indonesia, argued that it was "imperative to change
perceptions of Australia in Indonesia and perceptions of Indonesia in
the wider Australian community".

Reflecting the realist school of foreign policy, Woolcott argued:
"Just as we do not allow our relations with China to be dominated by
legitimate concerns about Tibet, Taiwan and the mistreatment of
members of the Falun Gong sect, and just as we should not have allowed
our close alliance with the United States to draw us into a costly,
unnecessary, destructive and distant war with Iraq, we must not allow
our relations with Indonesia to be held hostage to those who seek the
unrealistic goal of an independent West Papua."

Official diplomacy, Woolcott said, "must operate in the world as it is
and not in the world as it should be. There will always be tensions
between principle and morality, on the one hand, and on the other,
expediency and the constraints imposed by existing realities."

In the Wainggai case, a strike for principle is causing a headache for
official diplomacy and local politics, and the eyes of both the
Indonesians and the rebel backbenchers are skinned to watch how the
Government handles it.

Michelle Grattan is political editor.

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Wainggai could be the last successful asylum seeker: ALP

Saffron Howden and Paul Carter

CANBERRA August 1 (AAP) -- David Wainggai may be the last asylum
seeker to reach Australian shores by boat and enjoy the benefits of
its legal system, Labor and refugee advocates fear.

The 29-year-old Papuan was today celebrating a Refugee Review Tribunal
(RRT) decision paving the way for him to be granted a protection visa
in Australia.

The tribunal set aside a decision by the immigration department to
deny him a temporary visa and ordered the minister to reconsider the
case.

Mr Wainggai, held in detention on Christmas Island since January when
he arrived on Cape York with 42 fellow Papuans, was happy to be
getting out, his lawyer said.

"He is happy that justice has finally been done, that he's been
recognised as a refugee," Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre
coordinator David Manne told AAP.

But he warned that Mr Wainggai could be the last of such asylum
seekers if the government's proposed new immigration processing system
is introduced.

The government announced in April it wanted to send all asylum seekers
who reached Australia by sea for processing offshore, regardless of
whether they made it to the mainland.

But a group of around 10 Liberal backbenchers stalled the passage of
the laws through parliament in its last session.

The group opposed locking up families with children, the lack of
access for asylum seekers to legal services and appeals processes, and
the lack of a guarantee that people found to be genuine refugees could
settle in Australia.

Prime Minister John Howard offered to make minor changes to the plan,
including better conditions for women and children in detention and
oversight by the ombudsman, but the deadlock was not resolved before
parliament rose for its winter break.

Labor today said the backbenchers should hold strong.

"I hope that the events of today make no difference to them. So far
they've acted ... entirely on principle and entirely on what they
believe," Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said.

If they relented, Mr Wainggai could be the last asylum seeker to
arrive in Australia by boat and enjoy the full benefits of its justice
system, he said.

"My concern is that the government's determined that this will never
happen again," he said.

"The 43rd Papuan, the government intends to make the last asylum
seeker who will have the protection of Australian law if they come
here by sea."

Mr Wainggai's lawyer agreed.

"Quite possibly ... people in David's situation wouldn't even be able
to access the Australian legal system in the way that he has," Mr
Manne said.

The son of a Papuan independence leader who died in an Indonesian
jail, Mr Wainggai is expected to be granted a protection visa by the
end of this week and be released into the community - most likely
Melbourne, where the other Papuans he travelled with have settled.

The government originally denied his application for a protection visa
on the grounds he could have applied to live in Japan, where his
mother was born.

The decision to grant the 42 other Papuans visas triggered outrage in
Indonesia and plunged relations between Canberra and Jakarta to their
lowest point since East Timor's independence in 1999.

Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone was matter-of-fact today about
the review tribunal's ruling on Mr Wainggai's case.

"The whole purpose of having a review process is so that your
decisions are checked and in some cases rechecked," she said.

But she refused to rule out appealing the RRT decision until she had
read the tribunal's report.

A spokesman for the minister said he expected the offshore processing
legislation to be debated when parliament resumes next week, but he
could not specify a time.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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