a picture of a drowned boy sparked a wave of international grief, prompting some Western countries to take more Syrian refugees; but in Indonesia, asylum seekers are ripe targets for fraud.
A rental agent in Jakarta snatched at least a dozen asylum seekers Middle East, taking their money for long-term residential leases, but pay the actual owners for a few months, leading foreigners to be expelled. Police and apartment managers do not want to help.
applicantsasylum is not an easy time of it in Indonesia. If you arrive at Soekarno-Hatta airport, they can be taken aside and asked to pay bribes of US $, 2,000 or more to enter the country.
After recording with the Agency of the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR), they can wait up to four years in Indonesia for processing. Those granted asylum will eventually resettled in third countries such as New Zealand or Canada. Those refugee status who are denied may risk being on boats in Australia, or they can go home if they do not face persecution. While stuck in Indonesia, asylum seekers are not allowed to work, so most of them live on the funds provided by relatives in their country of origin. Some also receive funding from Western charities.
Sami, an Iranian, has arrived in Indonesia in January with her young teenage son, claiming they fled political persecution. They needed a place to stay in Jakarta waiting along asylum process. Some refugees living in the apartment complex Kalibata City Pancoran, South Jakarta, presented Sami with a rental agent named Naomi Catharina Sahita (41).
The city Kalibata apartments have become a magnet for refugees, mainly from Afghanistan and Iran. The resort also some women from Eastern Europe, the immigration authorities have accused of being sex workers. The apartments are sometimes attacked by immigration agents.
Naomi Sami offered an apartment for two years to Rp.56 million (about US $ 4,000), plus a deposit of Rp.1.5 million. He agreed, signed a lease, and then invited an Afghan refugee to share the apartment with them to reduce costs. All was well until August, when they were visited by the true owner of the apartment, who briefed the lease had expired.
Sami was shocked and showed the owner of his two-year lease expiring in January 2017. The owner said Naomi paid for six months. About 20 other refugees in Kalibata City, which had all of six months for the lease of two years of Naomi, suddenly facing the same problem. The owners showed up to demand more rent.
Naomi, who had been renting apartments recently that August 8, was not found. She stopped answering his phone and stopped communicating on . Both figures it provided on the leases are no longer active. Guards Kalibata management and security City initially told the refugees that they should stay in their apartments if they had the leases. But a few weeks ago, the guards changed their tune and said that tenants who could not pay for new leases would face deportation.
Sami said an asylum seeker returned to his apartment one afternoon to find the lock had been changed on the door. Security officials told her to leave, so he lost his furniture and possessions. Others were warned by thugs to leave or face forced eviction. Some of the deportees went to Bogor, south of Jakarta, where they can rent a spartan room for a month or pay Rp.300,000 Rp.2 million per month for a small house. The problem with life is that in Bogor police sometimes extort money from asylum seekers. Sami decided to stay in Kalibata City, but he had to pay the owner of the apartment for a new lease.
"Other swindled refugees tried to complain to the police," said Sami, speaking through an interpreter, "but police dismissed them and said they should leave the apartment and go to court. But because they are refugees here, they can not go to court. "
most tenants have been scammed single men, some of them share an apartment three or four . There were also some families. The prospect of initiating legal action in Indonesia is a huge task for any foreigner, much less an asylum seeker with few rights and no income.
The police should be able to track Naomi based on two different identity cards of residents (PTK) and the bank account number it attached to leases. Unfortunately, the police are often reluctant to deal with complaints or conduct investigations unless they are paid to do. There seems to be no sympathy for Middle Eastern asylum seekers.
One of Naomi PTK, which expires in 2016, lists its address as Jalan Hijau Lestari V in Ciputat Timur, South Tangerang, Banten Province. Another, which expires in 2020, lists its address as one of the apartments Kalibata City. Sami said the second address is false.
Queue Jumping
Some of the Middle Eastern asylum seekers in Jakarta are not thrilled that the photo of a dead three-year boy Syrian on a beach in Turkey resulted in Western countries offering to increase their quotas for Syrian refugees.
Arash, an Iranian refugee who has been in Jakarta for over two years with his wife, said that the lives of refugees in Turkey is easier than in Indonesia, so the West should not be encouraging people smuggling by offering to take more refugees without first screening them carefully.
"Many of us have been here [in Indonesia] for a long time. We are following the process. We do not get on boats or using illegal smugglers. Now we see that many Syrians using smugglers and get entry to the EU countries. It is like they are queue jumping, just because of this picture. "
" many children were dying in conflict for many years, but people do not care when a picture trends on social media. "
unhappy toddler in the photo was Alan Kurdi, although some reports said real surname of the family is Shenu. Alan and his brother five years and their mother were among the 12 people who drowned Sept. 2 when two boats that transport them to a Greek island capsized. Alan's father, Abdullah, had been working in Turkey for two years. Some survivors claim Abdullah was a smuggler, head of one of the boats - a claim he denied. Instead, he blames Canada for the death of his son and his wife, though Canadian officials say there has never applied for refugee status.
Arash says it is irresponsible to have children in a conflict zone and to the life of a child in the hands of smugglers. "I've been married for 10 years. Every day, my wife asked me a baby. I do not say until we relocated to a safe country. You should not put a baby or child in danger. "
Safety is paramount for all asylum seekers. Having the security to receive the support of the police when they are cheated by unscrupulous leasing agents would make life easier for those in Indonesia.