| Home > South-East Asia >> Indonesia | |
'How much?' Why bribes to people smugglers could revive a dying trade
The Guardian (Australia) - June 25, 2015
The 44-year-old's meagre catches are sometimes too small to cover the cost of the fuel he needs to power his 7.5-metre blue and white wooden boat.
Added to that, a lucrative sideline in helping ferry asylum seekers for people smugglers has been all but snuffed out after a crackdown by the Indonesian authorities and their threats of arrest. But things may be about to change.
"I could take them from here," he says, gesturing at the dark sand beach fringed with palm trees and ramshackle, red-tiled huts used by the local fishermen.
His sudden optimism comes after hearing the allegations that Australia paid members of a smuggling crew US$5,000 each to turn a boatload of asylum seekers back to Indonesia.
The boat in question had reportedly set off from the port of Pelabuhan Ratu, close to Gandi's village, last month and was stopped in international waters by the Australian navy.
"How much is US$5,000 in rupiah?" Gandi asks. Told it is more than 30 times the amount he used to earn from ferrying migrants a short distance out to sea, his eyes light up. The father of three says he was "very scared" when he transported asylum seekers in the past, typically loading about 20 into his small boat in the dead of night – on one occasion nearly getting caught by the police. "But I need money," he says. "The money eclipses the fear."
The rugged coastline of southern Java, where dense jungle rolls down to the beaches and colourful wooden fishing boats dot the shore, used to be a major staging ground for people smuggling.
But the Australian prime minister Tony Abbott's hardline policy of turning back asylum boats, helped by increased policing and campaigns to educate people about people smuggling in Indonesia, has largely stemmed the flow of boats.
In Pelabuhan Ratu and the surrounding area, only 15 migrants bound for Australia have been arrested so far this year and one in 2014, a huge drop from nearly 1,000 reportedly detained in 2013. Pelabuhan Ratu is a day's journey from the Australian territory of Christmas Island.
But Indonesian immigration officials fear the allegations of payments for those who are caught trying to enter Australian waters could undermine the progress of the past two years by tempting more people to get involved in the trade.
"This could become a headache for us," says a senior local official, Irfan Sapari. "We have been trying our best to stop boat departures."
It is not just local officials who are annoyed but also the Indonesian government in Jakarta, which has angrily hit out at Australia and demanded an explanation after Abbott repeatedly refused to deny or confirm the payment.
Indonesia's foreign ministry has said that if confirmed, the payments would mark a "new low" in Australia's handling of asylum seekers.
Police in eastern Indonesia, where the boat carrying 65 mostly Sri Lankan asylum seekers came ashore late in May, have displayed stacks of cash they say was paid by Australia, describing the money as a "bribe".
The row risks becoming a serious diplomatic crisis, further straining ties between the neighbours that are already under pressure owing to the execution in April of two Australian drug smugglers.
Critics fear that coastal settlements of Java could once again become targets for people smugglers, who have previously found recruits among the fishermen and villagers of the area who are fighting to survive on low incomes.
The village of Cibangban, a short journey down the coast from Pelabuhan Ratu, is typical of the area, a collection of modest houses on a jungle-covered hillside that leads down to paddy fields and a palm-fringed beach, where boats struggle through crashing waves to reach land each morning.
Up until a year ago, people smuggling agents used to regularly walk the beaches, fishermen and other villagers tell the Guardian, offering locals money to take migrants out to bigger vessels.
These vessels were the ones that would carry the asylum seekers towards Australia but they were too big to leave port loaded with asylum seekers without attracting attention.
The asylum seekers would be dropped off at night before being ferried out to sea and the agents would pay the fishermen on their return. Locals said they would be offered between 2 million rupiah (A$193, #95) and 10 million rupiah each time they took migrants out – more than they could normally earn in several weeks.
Many claim they did not know anything illegal was going on. "We didn't know they were illegal migrants," says Yus, a fisherman who goes by only one name and says he did not transport the asylum seekers himself. "The people who offered money said these passengers had been invited by Australia.
"We only found out it is illegal to transport them after the authorities told us." Asked whether he would risk taking migrants out after the alleged Australian payment, Yus hesitates then replies: "The police have warned us that we will be sent to jail immediately if we are caught transporting migrants."
Others say they would not take the risk but authorities are nevertheless concerned.
A local fisheries official, Arip Gustia, tasked with educating the locals to "be a good fisherman" by not breaking the laws, admits he has a tough job. Catches are at their lowest level for three months and fishermen are tempted to find any way they can of earning money.
Respected local figures have also been given the task of informing law enforcement agencies if they spot anything untoward. Under Indonesian laws, anyone found guilty of aiding people smuggling operations faces at least five years in jail and a fine.
Even Gandi admits he found the trips harrowing on occasion, recalling how one group of women and children became hysterical as he took them through stormy waters to a waiting boat.
"I remember until today how they cried and screamed, how frightened they were," he says. "I helped a woman to hold her baby, only a few months old. She was so nervous."
Nevertheless he says he would be willing to transport asylum seekers again, as he earned so little as a fisherman.
He returned from an overnight trip – many of the fishermen in the area work at night – on a recent Sunday morning and sold his catch for 75,000 rupiah (A$7, #4), not even enough to cover the 135,000 rupiah he spent on fuel. "I haven't had any money to give to my wife for three days," he says.
See also:
 |