an opinion of Immigrants and ASEAN.

 

some of us might have heard lately that there were many immigrants came to Indonesia by water. well, they exactly just pass through the country with Australia as the main goal, but the ended up quarantined by Indonesian authority.

i didn’t put so much of interest until i realized today that this is actually a matter for us. first we should start from the cause.

the causes of immigrants happen because there are many conflicts which caused social disaster in the region. lately immigrants from Sri Lanka causes diplomatic and political heat between Indonesia and Australia.

Indonesia act humanely to the immigrants based on moral and humanity values, despite our agreement to help Australia to stop illegal immigrant flows to the country. despite all statements and heat to solve immigrant problems, i start to wonder.

if might be all the problem and conflict could be reduce and solved, all this immigrants and diplomatic problems would not appear. well, since it has happened (the conflicts, i mean).

i think there is alternative way to stop immigrants coming to Oz. you see, ASEAN got this charter ratified already, and it includes in the ASEAN Security Community how to solve conflict that happen in a country in the region:

A.1.9. Promote peace and stability in the region
Actions

i. Support the inclusion of culture of peace which includes, inter alia, respect for diversity, promotion of tolerance and understanding of faiths, religions and cultures in the curriculum of ASEAN academic institutions;
ii. Develop programmes and activities aimed at the promotion of culture of peace, interfaith and intrafaith dialogue within the region;
iii. Promote respect and appreciation for the region’s diversity and harmony among the peoples of the region;
iv. Promote dialogue and greater interaction among various religious and ethnic groups;
v. Promote networking among schools in the region to develop peace-education in their respective curricula; and
vi. Support poverty alleviation and narrowing development gaps to contribute to promoting sustained peace and stability in the region.

with all the points mentioned above, the member-states could actually do something to solve the conflicts. nevertheless, Indonesia as the main player of ASEAN could do more than just solving this problem bilaterally.

the recent meetings in Hua Hin, Thailand was mentioned as the most effective meeting of ASEAN over the years by some medias, and according to that, we could hope that ASEAN could do the same effective way to help this region solve its member-states conflict problems rather than just giving new problem and causes unecessary heat between Australia-Indonesia.

i mean, if the core problem could be solved, the immigrants problem would be reduced also and it wouldn’t caused this much of a matter between Oz and its strategic neighbors, would it?