REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa and his Australian counterpart Bob Carr agreed on Monday to tackle people smuggling. Marty said bilateral relationship such as maritime cooperation and the releasing of Indonesian minors in Australia was the focus of the talks.
Indonesia hopes the Indonesian minors will be released soon. But, Indonesia and Australia have different number of underage Indonesians in Australian detention. "We have a different version," Marty said.
Those minors are the victims of people smuggling syndicate. Most of them are the crew of asylum-seeker boat. They were captured and imprisoned for illegally entering Australia.
Carr also discussed with the Chairman of Commission I in House of Representatives, Mahfudz Siddiq. They talked on Papua issue and US military deployment in Australia. Carr concerned that the deployment could disrupt Indonesia, Siddiq said. But Carr ensured that the cooperation with US military was focused on exercise and disaster management.
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