6 Indonesian lawmakers plan to visit Australia

Six Indonesian legislators will meet their Australian counterparts this month to discuss Australia 's decision to grant temporary visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers, the Jakarta Post said here on Monday.

The visit aimed to reassure Canberra that the allegation of genocide and human rights violation in Papua were unsubstantiated and the three-year visas granted to the refugees should be revoked, he said.

"We are also seeking to meet the 42 Papuans," legislator Effendi M. S. Simbolon was quoted by the paper as saying.

Relations between the two countries became sour after 42 out of 43 refugees from Papua were granted temporary protection visas last month. The 42 Papuans claimed they were unsafe, persecuted and feared prosecuted in their province.

Matters only became worse with the publication of two cartoons about both sides' top leaders, one in an Indonesian newspaper and the other in an Australian paper, which were regarded as offensive by both countries.

Source: Xinhua