Boatpeople have to go home: Feisal<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung
\nreiterated yesterday that the 4,000 Indochinese boat people
\ncurrently living on Galang Island in Riau will have to go home.<\/p>\n
\"The time will come when they have to leave,\" he was quoted by
\nAntara as saying yesterday. \"If they refuse, we'll make them.\"<\/p>\n
The government has set June 30 as the deadline to clear the
\nisland, just before July 1, when the United Nations High
\nCommissioner for Refugees deadline to end its financial
\nassistance is due.<\/p>\n
The UNHCR supports the care and maintenance of the boat people
\nand covers other costs related to their repatriation such as
\nflights and pocket money.<\/p>\n
Feisal was responding to questions about the various efforts
\nthe Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees may take to avoid
\nrepatriation. Some refugees have reportedly tried drastic
\nmeasures like attempting suicide to protest their planned
\nrepatriation.<\/p>\n
Feisal said that the same repatriation approach is being taken
\nby Malaysia, the Philippines and Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
\"We are launching a massive operation to send the refugees
\nhome,\" he said. \"However, we'll still have to wait for the
\napproval of the Vietnamese and Cambodian governments before they
\ncan actually be sent home.\"<\/p>\n
Responding to questions about the possibility of \"inhumane
\ntreatment\" of refugees by the authorities during forced
\nrepatriation, Feisal sidestepped the issue by saying that
\n\"allowing those people to stay on Galang for 20 years is already
\nvery humane\".<\/p>\n
\"We have been working intensively to facilitate the
\nrepatriation by communicating with the two countries' embassies
\nand foreign affairs ministries,\" Feisal said.<\/p>\n
\"As to whether we may have to miss the deadline yet again,
\nwe'll discuss that with the Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry
\nand the United Nations agency,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"The Indonesian government doesn't want this problem to become
\na burden in the future,\" he said.<\/p>\n
There are currently 11,000 Indochinese boat people throughout
\nEast Asia who failed to qualify for refugee status, and lost the
\nopportunity to be resettled in industrialized countries.
\nIndonesia, along with other Asian recipient countries, had
\nearlier hoped that the remaining boat people from Vietnam and
\nCambodia would return to their respective homes under voluntary
\nrepatriation programs.<\/p>\n
Only 17 of the 4,400 boat people on Indonesia's Galang island,
\njust south of Singapore, have been accorded refugee status and
\nthe rest will have to return to Vietnam.<\/p>\n
Over the past 20 years, the island has been a temporary home
\nto about 248,000 boat people.<\/p>\n
Indonesia wants to vacate the island to develop it as part of
\nthe Balerang bonded zone area which would cover Batam, Rempang
\nand Galang islands. (swe)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/boatpeople-have-to-go-home-feisal-1447893297",
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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