48 East Timorese seek protection in NTT<\/p>\n
Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara<\/p>\n
As many as 48 East Timorese citizens sneaked into East Nusa
\nTenggara (NTT) province seeking protection from the Indonesia
\ngovernment, claiming they were victims of intimidation, police
\nsaid on Friday.<\/p>\n
Twenty-six of them were accommodated at Belu Police Station,
\nwhile the remaining 22 are staying at camps along with other East
\nTimorese refugees.<\/p>\n
Belu Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Agus Nugroho said the 48 East
\nTimorese were from Balibo subdistrict, Bobonaro district, East
\nTimor, and claimed to have been "terrorized and intimidated" by
\ntheir East Timorese neighbors.<\/p>\n
They managed to sneak into East Nusa Tenggara, despite tight
\nborder security, he added.<\/p>\n
Agus said the 48 were among some 250,000 East Timorese who had
\nfled the carnage at the hands of militia in their homeland in
\n1999 after it voted to break away from Indonesia in an
\nindependence vote.<\/p>\n
"They had returned home to Timor Leste (East Timor) under the
\nrepatriation program in 2001 after taking refuge in Atambua, Belu
\nregency," he said, adding that some of the 48 refugees were women
\nand children.<\/p>\n
Agus said the escape of these East Timorese citizens would
\naffect the smooth repatriation of thousands of refugees still
\nlanguishing at the camps across East Nusa Tenggara.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government is waiting for a response from the
\nEast Timor administration in order to deport its 48 citizens, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
"We will not go home because we don't want to be bullied by
\nthe East Timorese people who do not want us to live there," said
\nEmersia da Cruz, one of the 48 refugees.<\/p>\n
Kupang's Wirasakti military commander Col. Moeswarno Moesanip
\nconfirmed the presence of the 48 East Timorese citizens who were
\nseeking protection in Atambua.<\/p>\n
East Timor's economic recession has also forced them to return
\nto Indonesia to escape destitution in the neighboring country, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Moesanip said that an exodus of more East Timorese people
\nwould hit East Nusa Tenggara and other Indonesian provinces, if
\nthe Xanana Gusmao government failed to resolve economic
\ndifficulties confronting its citizens.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/48-east-timorese-seek-protection-in-ntt-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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