Sydney  - Australian officials Friday said they would hold the Indonesian government to its promise to take 78 Sri Lankans rescued at Jakarta's request 12 days ago in international waters.

The asylum seekers are refusing to disembark from the Oceanic Viking, which is moored off Indonesia's Bintan Island near Singapore, and be interned in an Australian-funded immigration detention centre.

They want the Customs ship to sail to Australia, and some are on hunger strike to try to force Canberra's hand.

Both Indonesia and Australia have promised not to resort to force to break the impasse, which could sour relations between Jakarta and Canberra.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd insists he has an agreement with Indonesian President Bambang Susilo Yudhoyono to land the Sri Lankans.

The recent surge in arrivals - more than 30 boats have arrived this year compared with just seven for the whole of 2008 - is proving a test for Rudd's two-year-old Labor government, which has promised a softer approach to illegal arrivals than the previous conservative government under John Howard.

Most asylum seekers arrive on small boats from Indonesia, where they have paid people-smugglers to arrange their illicit passage. But the latest boats have come directly from Sri Lanka, where the Tamil minority say they fear persecution from the Sinhalese majority.

A Tamil refugee advocate who claims to have spoken by mobile phone to people aboard the Oceanic Viking told national broadcaster ABC that they fear being forcibly removed from the vessel. (dpa)