Officials probe hunger strike by boat people<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees
\n(UNHCR) and Government officials left for Galang island in Riau
\nyesterday to try and put an end to hunger strikes by over 500
\nVietnamese boat people.<\/p>\n
Between 500 to 1,000 Vietnamese have gone on hunger strikes
\nsince Thursday to protest talks on their planned repatriation
\nduring a meeting between President Soeharto and visiting
\nVietnamese President Le Duc Anh here today.<\/p>\n
An official at the foreign ministry's office here confirmed
\nthe departure of the Director of Security and Management for
\nIndonesia Abroad, E.G. Rumayar, for the island yesterday morning.<\/p>\n
The directorate is part of a government working group which
\nincludes officials from the immigration office, Ministry of Home
\nAffairs and the Armed Forces which are assigned to handle the
\nissues of Indochinese boat people on Galang.<\/p>\n
\"Some of them (the boat people) have even had to be taken to
\nhospital,\" the official told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
He could not update the latest situation, however, commenting
\nthat Rumayar's departure was part of a fact finding mission to
\ndiscover the true extent of situation there.<\/p>\n
Officials from both the UNHCR office in Jakarta and Bintan
\nIsland in Tanjung Pinang, were unavailable for comment since they
\nhad left to tackle the refugee crisis.<\/p>\n
\"The UNHCR supervisor here is leaving at three o'clock,\" a
\nstaff member of the UNHCR office in Tanjung Pinang explained
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
Reports indicate that about to 80 people have been
\nhospitalized as a result of the hunger strike, many of whom
\nsuffered from dehydration.<\/p>\n
There are still over 8,000 boat people on Galang island which,
\nfor the past 15 years, has provided a temporary shelter for over
\n248,000 Vietnamese and Cambodians who were trying to escape the
\nhorrors of war.<\/p>\n
These refugees were usually resettled in industrialized
\ncountries. However, those who now remain have failed to meet the
\nUNHCR criteria to classify them as refugees and therefore no
\nthird country was willing to accept them.<\/p>\n
Indonesia sees the remaining boat people only as an
\nobstruction to its plan to develop the island, located just south
\nof Singapore, as part of the Batam island industrial zone.<\/p>\n
To achieve their objectives, Jakarta and Hanoi last October
\nreached an agreement to repatriate all of them by the middle of
\n1995.<\/p>\n
The arrival of President Anh yesterday is viewed by many as
\nthe decisive step solidifying the removal of the refugees.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas played down
\nthe talks on repatriation between Soeharto and Anh.<\/p>\n
\"The only issue at hand is how to accelerate the
\nimplementation of Indonesia's decision to have the island
\nvacated,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to Alatas, the Vietnamese government is committed to
\nassisting with the repatriation of the boat people and that no
\npolitical hurdles exist to hinder the plan.<\/p>\n
Only one-tenth of the remaining boat people are expected to be
\nresettled in third countries such as Canada, Australia and the
\nUnited States.<\/p>\n
Since the camps establishment in 1975 a total of 100,000
\nrefugees from Galang island have been resettled to third
\ncountries. (07)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/officials-probe-hunger-strike-by-boat-people-1447893297",
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