REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA - Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Bob Carr, said that freedom flotila which sailed from Cairns to Papua on Saturday must adhere to Indonesian laws. He added that Australian government did not support their action.

"They've got to adhere to the laws of the country they're seeking to enter, and Indonesia has made it clear that they're breaching Indonesian law by going there without a visa, without a permit. We've advised them, through Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, that their action is not supported by Australia, it's extremely ill-advised," the minister said in an interview by Fran Kelly from Radio National on Breakfast program on Monday.  

A so-called freedom flotilla set sail from Cairns on Saturday, bound for West Papua to support the province's struggle for independence from Indonesia. Three yachts with about 20 Australians and Papuans are on board. the Radio National reported that Minister Carr visited Indonesian on Monday. 

"I think this activity by a fringe group of Australians offers a cruel hope to the people of the two Indonesian Papuan provinces; that is, a hope that, somehow, independence for the Papuan provinces is on the international agenda when it's not. The world recognizes Indonesian sovereignty as we do - indeed, we do it through the Lombok Treaty, and both sides of Australian politics support this position," he added as reported on press release from Australian Embassay in Jakarta. 

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