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If necessary, Indonesia is prepared to force many of the 255 Sri Lankans onto a navy warship to return them to the country they fled amid claims of persecution by the Sinhalese-dominated government, Fairfax says. The deportation plan marks a significant hardening in Indonesia's policy towards irregular immigrants, and undermines the so-called "Indonesia solution'' and Australia's hopes to negotiate a framework where both countries agree on a method of intercepting and processing boat people.

Gatot Subroto, head of the law enforcement unit at the Immigration Department, said Indonesia's Department of Foreign Affairs is "working on deporting them''. It is understood the negotiations with Sri Lanka's embassy involve the forced repatriation of about 130 asylum-seekers in Merak who do not carry proof from the United Nations that they are genuine refugees. Those already considered refugees would likely be resettled, and Indonesia has been pressuring Australia to take many of them.

But the remainder will be thrown in detention and are unlikely to be granted access to the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Instead, they will be processed by Indonesia and then sent home. The saga at Merak, which pre-dates the standoff on the Oceanic Viking taking place further north, was triggered when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd phoned the Indonesian President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, pleading for the boat to be intercepted before it reached Australia.

Ever since, the Sri Lankans have refused to disembark, at first threatening to blow the boat up, then insisting on being taken to Australia, before modifying their demands to have access to the Indonisian govrnment.