T

he government is drafting a presidential regulation (Perpres) on the handling of undocumented migrants, an important piece of legislation that has been at the drawing board stage for almost two years.

A Foreign Ministry official hopes the current Rohingya migrant crisis will help speed up the legislative process, allowing the government and regional administrations to more comprehensively deal with the matter.

The ministry'€™s director for international security and disarmament, Andy Rachmianto, said on Friday that the draft regulation would soon be ready to improve coordination among government institutions, pending approval from the Law and Human Rights Ministry and President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo.

'€œ[The Perpres] is in its final stages of drafting. It needs only the [approval of] the Law and Human Rights Ministry,'€ he told reporters on the sidelines of a migrant-related discussion in Jakarta on Friday.

Andy said he was hopeful that the president would be able to sign the draft into law as soon as possible, considering the situation in North Aceh, where more than 1,800 Bangladeshi and ethnic Rohingya have come ashore in recent weeks.

Andy said the legislation would be useful for regions where migrants were expected to enter the country. According to him, the Perpres would allow regional administrations to apply for funding to shelter and provide for undocumented migrants.

This is to overcome the common hurdle of a lack of funding, he said. '€œ[The legislation] can be used to collect emergency response funds for the flow of incoming migrants, so that regional administrations can also prepare their resources,'€ Andy said.

Previously, Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir urged the international community and especially the signatories of the 1951 UN convention on refugees and asylum seekers to '€œstep up'€ to their commitments and provide funding through international channels like the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Aside from the legislation, Andy revealed that Indonesia had yet to join the UN convention as a signatory, as the government had to be able to provide for its own people'€™s welfare first, before it could formally commit to helping the citizens of other nations.

'€œIf we can'€™t entirely look out for our own citizens, then the government has a lot more to consider in order to become a signatory of the convention,'€ he said.

Andy reiterated the government'€™s commitment to respecting the principles of the convention and following them to the best of the nation'€™s ability.

'€œThere is the principle of non-refoulement that prevents any country from blocking the arrival of refugees and asylum seekers. We'€™ve been implementing that principle for years,'€ he added.

Non-refoulement is a key aspect of international law that ensures the protection of refugees by preventing them from being returned to places where their lives could be endangered.

After a tripartite meeting between the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand on Wednesday, Indonesia and Malaysia agreed to offer temporary shelter to 7,000 Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants, while making it clear that the offer of assistance and shelter was only applicable to those at sea to prevent a new influx of migrants.

Thailand said it was ready to allow the sick to come ashore for care, but refused to provide the shelter offered by Indonesia and Malaysia.