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Indonesia's strict laws on foreign researchers lead to deportation of sailing enthusiasts
The Kupang Immigration Office in NTT ordered an expedition team consisting of five Australians and one Dutchman to return to their countries of origin on Feb.12, putting a halt to their journey.
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A sunset at Pasir Panjang Beach, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara. (Shutterstock/File)
A
group of sailing enthusiasts attempting to conduct a rafting expedition from the Timor Sea to Darwin, Australia, has been deported from Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), in the latest wave of stricter measures applied by the government on research conducted by foreign nationals in Indonesia.
The Kupang Immigration Office in NTT ordered an expedition team consisting of five Australians and one Dutchman to return to their countries of origin on Feb.12, putting a halt to their journey.
They departed on Lion Air flight JT 925 from El Tari Airport in Kupang to I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali, at 1:30 p.m. local time. They continued flying to Darwin from Bali on Jet Star flight JQ 082.
Project director Robert Hobman, who has since 1998 engaged in an expedition to explore on how humans walked out of Africa to become the world’s first community of sea people, was shocked by the deportation.
He did not even realize that he had been deported as he had only been given an Exit Permit Only (EPO) by immigration officials to indicate an order to “leave Indonesian territory within seven days".
In an email exchange with The Jakarta Post, Hobman said he had been told about his deportation days after he had left.
“Yesterday [Monday], we were given the green light by the Indonesian Consular staff in Darwin to apply for fresh visas. Early this afternoon, Jakarta advised that we have indeed been deported, not to return to Indonesia. Not until a review — I suppose on appeal — next July,” he said on Tuesday.
