海角大神

Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said today听that Australia's recent incursions into Indonesian waters were 鈥渄isturbing鈥� and dismissed Canberra's apologies for the recent incidents as not enough.

鈥淲e find it unacceptable for them to simply say that it is something that had taken place without their knowledge,鈥� says Mr. Natalegawa, speaking to 海角大神 after a meeting of southeast Asian foreign ministers in the northern Myanmar town of Bagan today.

Australia apologized to its northern neighbor earlier today, saying that Australian naval operations to stop so-called 鈥渂oat people鈥� from entering Australian waters had 鈥渋nadvertently鈥� crossed into Indonesian domain. Australia said that the navy's moves were due听to technical errors and happened without the government's knowledge.听

Natalegawa described the Australian version of events as 鈥減erplexing,鈥� and said that he would "like to think that there is a command and control for operations of the Australian Navy.鈥�

Indonesia remains a key transit point for people fleeing conflict zones such as Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, and Syria.听In the past six years, more than 50,000 asylum seekers have attempted the dangerous trip and more than 1,000 are believed to have drowned. Refugees pay to travel on听rickety boats to Australian territory, aiming for Christmas Island.听

In the run-up to Australia's 2013 election both the incumbent Labor Party and the eventual winners, the Liberal Party, led by current Prime Minister Tony Abbott, vowed to curb the number of asylum seekers reaching Australia, which spiked during Labor's latter years in office.听

Since winning power, Mr. Abbott has launched Operation Sovereign Borders听to stop asylum seekers from reaching Australia. In the first听100 days of the program, 1,106 asylum seekers arrived in Australia by boat, an 87 percent drop from the previous 100 days. Arrivals are now at their lowest point since 2008.

The United Nations has questioned the legality of the program, however, particularly the practice of pushing boats back from Australian waters.

鈥淎ny such approach would raise significant issues and potentially place Australia in breach of its obligations under the [1951] Refugee Convention and other international law obligations,鈥� said Adrian Edwards, spokesman for the UN Refugee Agency, speaking in Geneva on Jan. 10.

To curb the arrivals, however, Australia needs the help of Indonesia, a 17,000-island archipelago that听stretches听a distance roughly the same as that from Ireland to Iraq.

Australian hopes of cooperating with听Jakarta on asylum seekers听have floundered since late last year when Edward Snowden leaked documents alleging that Australia spied on senior Indonesian officials, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.听The reports sparked a furious backlash in Indonesia and prompted a freeze in relations.

Natalegawa said coordinated patrols by Indonesia and Australia had been suspended due to "an unrelated and yet equally important issue, namely Australia's unauthorized surveillance of our leaders and of Indonesia."