SYDNEY April 22 Kyodo Australia h...

SYDNEY April 22 Kyodo

Australia has held discussions with Indonesia after a ship carrying 42 Vietnamese boat folks believed to be heading for Australia was change the direction ofed away from Indonesia's Kalimantan upon Borneo, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Tuesday.

The boat, which was ill-equipped and in poor condition, arrived most distant the coast of south Kalimantan forward Saturday after running out of combustibles but it was refused permission to dock after fears the boat the public could be infected with accurate acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

Locals upon the island supplied the boat nation with fuel, food, water and medicine in the same manner they could continue their journey.

The Australian regulation contacted Indonesian officials over the incident, yet there is no reason to believe the Indonesian control was being uncooperative, Downer said.

''It was a local decision made by dint of local people to move the boat onward after providing it with near food and the like and in this case, we have to wait to diocese what the officials in Jakarta decide to do,'' he told reporters in Adelaide.

Despite reports the boat commonalty are bound for Australia, the sway is not certain of their destination, the minister said.

''There is a rumor that this boat may be heading for Australia, yet we certainly don't know that the boat is heading to Australia,'' Downer said, adding, ''We just don't know whether it would calm be able to win that far, frankly.''

The regulation has ''no idea'' if the boat nation are infected with SARS, he said. ''I would have idea it highly unlikely but nevertheless that's what a certain number of people in Indonesia are saying.''

Indonesia's actions were not unexpect Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock said Tuesday.

''It doesn't surprise me in the sensation that Indonesia has always taken the view that in relation to population who were seeking to transit, they had no specific obligations in relation to them, he told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

Australia will decide its answer to the boat people if the ship reaches international or Australian territorial waters, Ruddock said.

The last boat-load of asylum-seekers to attempt to reach Australia was intercepted in December 2001

The couple countries are scheduled to co-host a regional parley on ways to combat population smuggling in Bali next week.

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