Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Mon, 27 Jul 1992 18:31:24 PDT
From:         "Indonesia Publications/Task Force" <apakabar@IGC.APC.ORG>
Subject:      MY/IN/AU: Serious, Sensitive Intrigue
X-To:         seasia-l@msu.edu

/* Written  6:27 pm  Jul 27, 1992 by apakabar in cdp:reg.indonesia */
/* ---------- "Children Kidnap Furor" ---------- */

   AFP, Sydney, July 27 - Malaysian Prince Raja Kamarul Baharin Shah
smuggled his two children out of Australia in a motor-launch and took them
back to Malaysia via Irian Jaya, sources here and in Asia said Monday.
   The launch is understood to have arrived at the port of Merauke, in the
Indonesian province of Irian Jaya about the same time as 10 Australians were
being detained there for irregularities with their travel documents.
   The prince told a packed press conference in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday that
he rescued his children with the help of Allah.
   But sources told AFP the prince had more than Allah to help him in his
cloak-and-dagger mission -- that elements of the Indonesian secret service
were probably also involved.
   However, people who tried to follow the trail of the children say while it
is clear the prince was helped by Indonesian officials it is not known whether
the help was officially sanctioned by Jakarta.
   "It may have been a favour by one Moslem to another rather than a
political favour by one country to another," said one source.
   Raja Kamarul fled with his son Iddin, 9, and daughter Shah, 7, on July 9
after an access visit in Melbourne where they lived with their mother, the
prince's former wife Jacqueline Gillespie and her second husband Iain
Gillespie.
   Jacqueline Gillespie was given sole custody of the children by Australia's
Family Court after she separated from Raja Kamarul in 1985, but Malaysian
authorities insist the father has right of custody under Islamic law.
   The abduction sparked inquiries here and in Asia by police and Australian
officials.
   The 37-year-old prince said Sunday he felt he had every right to bring his
children back to Malaysia to be raised as Moslems."It was not my decision but
almighty Allah's," he said.
   AFP's sources said the arrival of the children in Merauke coincided with
the arrival there on the weekend of July 18-19 of 10 Australian officials who
were detained in the port by Indonesian authorities.
   The 10, immigration officials, police and the crew of two aircraft, had
gone there to repatriate Indonesian fishermen caught poaching in Australian
waters. The 10 were released three days later.
   A foreign affairs spokesman said at the time the 10 were detained: "The
suggestion is that the aircraft, in the Indonesian view, landed without the
proper clearance."
   However, sources said Monday their detention may have been linked to the
arrival in Merauke of the prince and his party.
   From Merauke, the party travelled to the Indonesian province of Kalimantan
in Borneo from which they crossed into Sabah, Malaysia, and then across the
South China Sea to Malaysia itself.
   By the time Australian foreign affairs officials told the Gillespies they
had reason to believe the children were in Indonesia, they may already have
left Indonesian territory.
   A foreign affairs spokesman said Monday it was the first time he had heard
any suggested link between the Australians detained in Merauke and the missing
children.
   But the department could not confirm any part of what AFP's sources said,
the spokesman added.
   Lawyers acting for Jacqueline and Iain Gillespie arranged a meeting Monday
with government officials to discuss steps to try to get the children back and
to ensure their well-being.
   Foreign Minister Gareth Evans indicated earlier Monday that the government
could help fund a custody battle and a possible extradition case against Raja
Kamarul.
   But he conceded in a radio interview that getting the children back would
be a complex task and that there was little else government could do, adding
that he did not want to raise expectations which he might not be able to
satisfy.
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