BF funding and politics

March 28 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia has held up A$10 million ($7 million) of aid it was to get from Australia for stemming the spread of bird flu after Australia granted temporary visas to asylum seekers from Papua province.

``We decided to postpone it until the situation improves,'' Indonesia's Vice President Jusuf Kalla told reporters without elaborating today.

Australia granted three-year temporary visas to 42 asylum seekers from Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua who said the Indonesian government is committing genocide there. The Indonesian government denies the claim and described them as economic migrants.

``The delay is linked to temporary visas given by Australia,'' said Lalu Mara Satriawangsa, spokesman at Indonesia's welfare ministry. ``The government has one voice regarding the matter.''

Indonesia, the world's fourth-most-populous nation, has reported an average of one new human bird flu case a week since September, highlighting the country's struggle to arrest the disease. The H5N1 virus has killed at least 22 people of 29 confirmed cases in Indonesia.

Indonesia withdrew its ambassador to Canberra on Friday because of the decision. It described Australia's decision as disappointing and unhelpful to the country's efforts to find a solution to the crisis in Papua. Papua, formerly Irian Jaya, has been fighting for a separate state after the former Dutch colonial power ceded control to Indonesia in 1963.

Papua's name was changed under a regional autonomy law that gave more powers to provinces. Papua is on the western half of New Guinea island, which it shares with Papua New Guinea.