return asylum seekers, jakarta tells pm

Yes we will gladly had them over, just as long as you hand over Bashir, whoever killed the journalist at balibo and anyone else that has played any role in killing or hurting an Australian.
What a joke !!

Indonesia has asked Prime Minister John Howard to return 43 Papuan asylum seekers to Indonesia, saying there is no reason they should be granted political asylum in Australia.

Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda also said they would not be prosecuted on their return to Indonesia.

The asylum seekers from the troubled Papua province were found at Australia's Cape York on Wednesday after sailing for five days in an outrigger with a banner attached accusing the Indonesian military of conducting genocide in their homeland.

"The president talked on the telephone with Australian Prime Minister John Howard. Indonesia stressed our position on the Papuans (asylum seekers)," Wirajuda told reporters.

"They are not people that we will prosecute according to law. There is no reason to give them political asylum. Therefore, they should be returned to Indonesia."

Jakarta has warned that relations could be strained if Australia grants the group asylum and Australia has said it considers Papua a legitimate Indonesian territory.

The federal government flew the asylum seekers, including seven children, to Christmas Island the day after the arrived.

The families among the group have been put in immigration department housing and the single men in a detention centre.

One man from the group has suspected tuberculosis and has been taken to Western Australia for more tests.

Refugee groups say the Papuans should never have been moved from the mainland and should be given bridging visas while their asylum claims were assessed.

Immigration lawyers will go to Christmas Island on Monday to speak to the Papuans.

Papuan independence activists have waged a campaign for more than 30 years to break from Indonesia while a low-level armed rebellion has also simmered. Human rights groups have accused the Indonesian military of widespread abuses there.

Jakarta took over Papua from Dutch colonial rule in 1963.

In 1969, its rule was formalised in a United Nations-backed vote by community leaders which was widely criticised as a sham.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's navy has sent two warships to its sea border with Australia to prevent Indonesian fishermen from straying illegally into the neighbouring country's waters, state news agency Antara reported.