Let nations stop boats ‘as they see fit’: Peter Dutton

The Immigration Minister has backed regional neighbours to respond to people-smuggling ‘as they see fit’.

Immigration Minister Peter ­Dutton has backed the “sovereign right’’ of countries on Australia’s doorstep to respond to the threat of people-smuggling “as they see fit’’.

Indonesian military command was last night preparing for a fresh stand-off in the Malacca Strait, with four patrol ships deployed to intercept and repel a boatload of asylum-seekers ­diverted south that would arrive “in the next few days”.

Malaysia, Indonesia and ­Thailand have triggered inter­national outrage by mirroring ­Australia’s hardline border control stance, turning away boatloads of desperate Rohingya migrants from Myanmar as well as Bangladeshis.

Stranded on boats with little food and water, those seeking refuge have repeatedly been turned away from different countries in the region by their border patrols. Many have died.

A regional crisis meeting to deal with the unfolding humanitarian crisis will be held in Thailand next week. Australia, the US and regional powers will attempt to resolve the impasse that has set thousands of asylum-seekers adrift in the Andaman Sea and Malacca Strait in recent weeks.

Mr Dutton said “like Australia, countries in the region have a sovereign right to respond to these matters as they see fit’’.

“Nobody wants to see deaths at sea and the Australian government will provide whatever support we can to people within the region to provide humanitarian support and assistance, and ultimately our desire is to do the ­people-smugglers out of business here, in Southeast Asia or across the world,’’ Mr Dutton told The Australian yesterday.

On Sunday, Tony Abbott warned that more asylum-seekers would be in peril unless tougher action was taken on people-smugglers, which included “turning boats around’’, and he was “not surprised that other countries are now doing likewise’’.

Indonesian military command spokesman Major General Fuad Basya told The Australian four navy vessels were patrolling the area to prevent the boat from ­entering Indonesia, “because they don’t have permission”.

General Fuad gave no other details but the boat was understood to be moving towards Indonesia’s Aceh coast.

The Indonesians will try to turn it back to Malaysia. Last week, the Indonesian navy turned back a boat carrying about 680 ­Rohingyas and Bengalis, only to have it returned by the Malaysian navy on Thursday, following the deaths of at least 14 people on board.

A worse tragedy was averted by Acehnese fishermen, who rescued the passengers near Indonesia’s maritime border on Thursday night, as the boat was sinking, and landed them at Kuala Langsa, where they are now being held in a temporary camp.

General Fuad said the navy stood ready to help the illegal migrants with water, food and fuel, and to repair engines, but unless there was a life-threatening situation, not to let them reach Indonesian land.

“The important thing is not to let the boat enter,” he said.

General Fuad earlier said the navy had turned back two illegal migrant vessels, not counting the Kuala Langsa boat.

Thailand has invited 15 regional governments to a regional meeting on May 29 to discuss the “root causes” of the crisis.

The government of Myanmar, where persecution of Rohingya Muslims has caused more than one million asylum-seekers to flee, has said it is unlikely to attend.

Myanmar’s Information Minister, Ye Htut, last night acknowledged international “concerns” about the flight of boatpeople but said instead of blaming Myanmar “for all these problems ... all these issues should be solved by the regional partners’’.

Regional leaders have faced global pressure to accept the ­asylum-seekers, with the US ­calling on governments “to refrain from pushbacks of new boat ­arrivals”.

Labor immigration spokesman Richard Marles said the Abbott government’s rhetoric was hurting the efforts of regional countries to “find space for a humanitarian answer”.

“Tony Abbott seems to have no idea where domestic politics should end and being a statesman begins,’’ Mr Marles said.

A UN spokesman said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had contacted regional leaders to reiterate “the need to protect lives and uphold international law” and “stressed the need for the timely disembarkation of migrants”.

Additional reporting: Jared Owens, Gita Athika, AFP