Hundreds of Indonesians in East Timor virtually stateless<\/p>\n
Hundreds of Indonesians living in East Timor are essentially
\nstateless as they hold no documents of citizenship either from
\nthe Indonesian government or the government of East Timor.<\/p>\n
To complicate matters for officials on both sides of the
\nborder, the Indonesians refuse to consider themselves Indonesians
\ndespite the fact that they have not been granted East Timor
\ncitizenship.<\/p>\n
Head of the Representative Office of the Republic of Indonesia
\nin Dili, Fauzi Bustami said that the Indonesians, who have since
\n1999 been living at the Annur Mosque compound in Kampung Alor,
\nDili, have long wanted to become citizens of their host country
\nbut are denied under the country's new citizenship law.<\/p>\n
\"They have repeatedly stated since 1999 that they wanted to
\nbecome citizens of East Timor and so they've never bothered to
\napply for an Indonesian passport,\" Fauzi said.<\/p>\n
East Timor was declared by the New Order regime in 1976 as
\nIndonesia's 27th province and was considered part of Indonesia
\nuntil 1999, when the former Portuguese colony voted to reject
\nJakarta's autonomy offer with the understanding that it would
\nlead to independence during a the August 1999 United Nations-
\nsponsored popular consultation.<\/p>\n
After the vote, a handful of Indonesians chose to stay put,
\nwishing to become citizens of the tiny, new country.<\/p>\n
However, under the country's citizenship law enacted in 2002,
\nonly indigenous East Timorese are recognized as legitimate
\ncitizens, dashing the hopes of Indonesians there.<\/p>\n
East Timorese are defined as those who are born there or whose
\nparents were born in the newly established country.<\/p>\n
The law also stipulates that foreigners who got married to
\nEast Timorese may apply for citizenship five years after the law
\nwent into effect, while for those who reside there permanently
\nbut are not married to a citizen, it is a 10-year wait.<\/p>\n
Most of the \"stateless\" Indonesians, who are mostly working as
\ntraders, were born in Sumatra or Sulawesi. They belong to a
\nMuslim tarekat, or group.<\/p>\n
On April 7 this year, East Timorese authorities sealed the
\nAnnur Mosque compound, banning the tarekat members from leaving
\nthe compound and outsiders from entering the complex.<\/p>\n
According to Fauzi, the East Timor immigration officials were
\nconducting routine passport checks of all foreigners living in
\nthe country.<\/p>\n
\"But since almost none of the Indonesians in the compound have
\ncitizenship documents, passports or identification cards, they
\nwere banned from leaving the compound,\" Fauzi said, adding that
\nthe checks came just one day after local newspapers reported that
\nover 300 Indonesians chose not to vote in Indonesia's April 5
\ngeneral elections.<\/p>\n
The compound was again opened up several days later after
\nIndonesian diplomats in Dili held talks with East Timor
\nauthorities.<\/p>\n
While tarekat members are now free to venture out of the
\ncomplex, local authorities have stationed police personnel
\noutside the compound, whose tasks include preventing non-tarekat
\nmembers from entering the compound, with the exception being
\nduring prayer time.<\/p>\n
According to Fauzi, his office has tried to help the tarekat
\nmembers but they have rejected the offer, claiming that they were
\nEast Timor citizens.<\/p>\n
\"They don't consider themselves to be Indonesians, making it
\ndifficult for us to negotiate with the East Timor government,\"
\nFauzi said, adding that Indonesia would continue to recognize
\nthem as its citizens as long as they have not obtained East Timor
\ncitizenship.<\/p>\n
\"There are many Indonesians who got married to East Timorese
\nand have chosen to stay. Many of them have no passports or any
\nother documents of citizenship,\" Fauzi said.<\/p>\n
The exact number of Indonesians in East Timor, however,
\nremains unclear as the representative office was still in the
\nprocess of registering them.<\/p>\n
He also said many indigenous East Timor citizens were still
\nholding valid Indonesian passports, including some parliamentary
\nmembers and public officials.<\/p>\n
\"We have repeatedly appealed to them to surrender their
\nIndonesian passports once they become public officials,\" Fauzi
\nsaid without mentioning the names of the parliamentary members.
\n -- Kanis Dursin<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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