JP\/9\/Yemris<\/p>\n
Yemris Fointuna
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nKupang<\/p>\n
In handling the remaining 290,000 East Timorese refugees in
\nEast Nusa Tenggara, the provincial government will give priority
\nto those who want to go back to their homeland.<\/p>\n
J.B. Kosapilawan, spokesman for the provincial government,
\nsaid local authorities would again make an inventory of East
\nTimorese refugees who wanted to go home, to help deal with the
\nrefugee issue immediately.<\/p>\n
\"The government will give priority to the repatriation
\nprogram, instead of the resettlement program, and those who have
\nchosen to go back to their homeland will be given priority in
\nsolving the problem and we will persuade them to join the
\nrepatriation program,\" he said here on Friday.<\/p>\n
He added the policy was in line with the central government's
\ninstruction to give priority to refugees who had chosen to go
\nback to East Timor.<\/p>\n
Asked what the government would do if the refugees decided to
\nstay in Indonesia, Kosapilawan said the government would ask them
\nto join in the resettlement program both inside and outside the
\nprovince.<\/p>\n
Yoseph Setyohadi, chief of the local manpower and
\ntransmigration ministry office, conceded the government had
\nslowed the resettlement program in the hope that a majority of
\nrefugees would follow the lead of those who had already decided
\nto return to their homeland.<\/p>\n
\"The resettlement program will be offered to refugees should
\nthey decline to join the repatriation program,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, most refugees criticized the government's policy,
\nwhich they said would prolong their suffering. According to them,
\nthey should be given an equal opportunity to either return home
\nor accept the resettlement program.<\/p>\n
\"The government should be committed to its previous policy
\nthat those who have chosen to stay in Indonesia will be resettled
\nto other areas in the country while those who have chosen to go
\nback to East Timor will be repatriated,\" Abel de Jesus, a refugee
\nfrom the East Timor regency of Ainaro, said.<\/p>\n
Simon Salmona, a refugee from Bobonaro currently living in a
\nrefugee camp in Tuapukan, said the government should resettle
\nthose who had decided to stay in Indonesia, in light of the
\nupcoming rainy season.<\/p>\n
\"Numerous contagious diseases will flare in the refugee camps
\nduring the upcoming rainy season unless the government takes the
\ninitiative to resettle the refugees,\" he said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jp9yemris-1447899208",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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