the Coalition's policy of forcing asylum boats back into Indonesian waters

A SENIOR Indonesian official has confirmed Indonesia would object strongly to the Coalition's policy of forcing asylum boats back into Indonesian waters. ''It's exactly like you going to someone else's house and throwing dirt there,'' the official said, on the condition of anonymity. ''Why would we take something that is not our property?''

There are also practical problems with the turn-around policy, the official said. Unless the boats were to be abandoned on the high seas, or handed over to the Indonesian navy mid-ocean, they would need to be towed to land. But there is no safe port on Java's southern shore because the seas are too high and dangerous.

This would mean the Australian navy towing an asylum boat to Tanjung Priok, Jakarta's commercial and military port, which is many hours' sail away on Java's northern shore. The source said the Australian navy would never be given permission for this kind of incursion into Indonesian waters. ''It's impossible for a military ship to get security clearance and border clearance,'' the source said.

On the face of it, the boat that signalled its distress last Wednesday would have been a candidate for tow-back. It was clearly within Indonesian waters, and the Indonesian search and rescue agency, Basarnas, was in charge of the rescue.

Communications between the Australian Rescue Coordination Centre and Basarnas reveal the Australians initially asked Basarnas to ''advise which Indonesian port is being prepared to receive survivors''. But an Australian vessel, HMAS Wollongong, reached the area first, and the asylum seekers refused to return to Indonesia. They were therefore accompanied to Christmas Island.

A Basarnas spokesman, Gagah Prakoso, said this was standard procedure in search and rescue. ''The implicit understanding is that whoever helps the boat will take it to their country, not get the boat and take it to another country,'' he said. Mr Prakoso would not comment on the Coalition policy. 

However, Basarnas has now committed to buying a fast, ocean-going catamaran to help its rescue efforts. The 60-metre vessel, which will supplement its smaller 36-metre fibreglass-bottomed boats, will be able to effect rescues in open ocean for the first time, Mr Prakoso said. The head of Basarnas admitted last month that it was ill-equipped to respond to vessels in distress in the often rough seas off Indonesia's southern coast.

Nevertheless, the new boat, which is to be bought from Singapore, will be based in Jakarta's port, which means it will be 11 hours sailing, in good conditions (and 20 hours in bad conditions) from the mid-point of Java and Christmas Island.

Meanwhile, boat interceptions continued. Australian authorities last night boarded a boat believed to be carrying 31 people west of Christmas Island. And police in Sri Lanka stopped 41 people setting out on a treacherous 3000-kilometre journey across open waters to Australia - only days after the country complained it was being exploited as a ''transit point'' for smuggling.