JAKARTA: According to reports, two Indonesian teenagers who had been jailed for more than one year in Australia for allegedly participating in human trafficking have reported being sexually abused and forced to ingest drugs while detained in Sydney's Silverwater Prison. The reports have left Indonesian activists angry, demanding those responsible for the abuse be held to account. “I wish this would not happen, but it is becoming more and more commonplace in Australia with Indonesian refugees and those in the country,” said one human rights activists, who asked not to be named. He told Bikyamasr.com that organizations in Jakarta that work with Indonesians in Australia have received reports of assaults, violence and even a rising number of suicides in detention camps in Australia. In Australia, the report of the two teenagers has led to calls for the government there to release other Indonesian youth who remain jailed in the country in an effort to stem any potential diplomatic row between Canberra and Jakarta. “As far as Indonesian minors in Australian jails, there's been a commitment from both countries that it is a priority and should have special attention,” a spokesman for Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Friday, in comments published by News.com.au. The two boys, now 17- and 18-years old, have returned to Indonesia, but were locked up for more than a year in Australia after they were arrested when asylum seeker boats on which they were crewing were intercepted on the way to Christmas Island. “I was afraid because I was being detained with adult criminals and drug abusers,” Susilo told reporters at the Human Rights Working Group headquarters in Jakarta, the Jakarta Post newspaper reported on Friday. “I keep telling the authorities that I was 15-years-old and that I didn't want to stay with those criminals, but they wouldn't listen.” Violence and abuse for Indonesian asylum-seekers is not a new revelation in the ongoing debacle between Indonesia and Australia over how to deal with boat people. In Australia, camps have been established where refugees are often held for months, even years, upon arrival in Australia. The two governments are currently working on a new agreement that could see refugees exchanged for immigrants looking to move to Australia, but opposition in Australia remains high to the deal.
