The impression given by this episode is that we are willing to bend our principles to suit our own ends despite how it may appear.
On the one hand we have a person fleeing alleged persecution by the justice system of his own country so we agree to protect him using the immunity of citizenship. And, on the other hand, we must remember that this person is wanted by Interpol and Indonesian authorities for the embezzlement of millions in bank funds.
We must ask the question: Is it wise, or worth our while, to embroil ourselves in a course of action that could cause friction in the cordial bilateral relationship enjoyed by Papua New Guinea and Indonesia?
We should hope not.
If we are to go out on a limb for an individual or a cause, doesn’t the plight of the indigenous people, our fellow Melanesians, of Irian Jaya or West Papua, deserve our attention?
We leave ourselves open not only to the charge of corruption but to hypocrisy when our government makes decisions of this nature.
According to reports, Tjandra has been fending off allegations of stealing huge sums of money from the now-defunct Bank of Bali since 2009. He only fled his country a day before the nation’s Supreme Court sentenced the now 62-year-old in absentia to two years’ jail.
The circumstances of his being granted citizenship are dubious.
For a start, he did not qualify on residency grounds. Non-citizens wishing to qualify for the right to be called Papua New Guineans must have continuously resided in the country for at least eight years.
Tjandra does not meet that criterion.
Other possible grounds which the then immigration minister Ano Pala may have cited in awarding the Indonesian his PNG citizenship would have been the requirement for an applicant to make a full statement of assets, liabilities, investments, business interests and savings accounts, both within and outside PNG, indicating their values and locations.
It seems Tjandra may have satisfied these areas. Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, when asked in parliament recently about the issue, said he had not received any request from the Indonesian government for the detainment or extradition of Tjandra.
“I know there is a lot of speculation in the press that this guy is a fugitive and needs to be repatriated, (but) I have not received one single request from the Indonesian government,” O’Neill told parliament last Friday.
“I am advised ... there are some irregularities in respect to the issuing of citizenship. Once we have a detailed report from that investigation, we will be in some position to make decisions.”
O’Neill said he would raise the matter with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono at a scheduled meeting in late November.
The risk here is that once the storm blows over, Tjandra could very well discard the honour bestowed upon him to cross the border back to his country. That would make a mockery of our immigration laws.
The last foreigner who was in the country seeking asylum was Julian Moti in 2006.
At the behest of the Australian police, PNG authorities detained the Australian passport holder. But Moti was then secretly flown out of the country to neighbouring Solomon Islands, in breach of existing PNG National Court bail conditions.
The order to remove Moti apparently came from the prime minister’s office – something which was denied at the time.
The granting of Tjandra’s citizenship and, then, the subsequent investigation of the awarding, shows that the action when first taken was rash and not well thought-out.
OP/ED
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