2,808 boat people to go by September

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia is confident that it can successfully complete the repatriation of the remaining 2,808 Indochinese refugees on Galang Island by September.

Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman told journalists yesterday that the repatriation program was going smoothly.

He said that officials from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees had cited the repatriation program in Galang as one of the best in the region.

Speaking to journalists after a ministerial meeting on political affairs and security, Soesilo said the repatriation should be completed by September.

The Armed Forces began repatriating boat people last month from Galang Island using navy tank-landing ships.

Each ship can transport 200 boat people back to Ho Chi Minh City, which takes about three to four days.

Galang has, since the mid-1970s, accommodated nearly 250,000 boat people. Those remaining on the island have been screened out as economic migrants and are thus not eligible for resettlement to a third country.

Soesilo said that in the last month, 1,689 boat people have been repatriated.

He explained that there were 2,808 left on the island, comprising 2,795 Vietnamese and 13 Cambodians.

Meanwhile, it was reported from Batam on Sunday that the Vietnamese government had sent an additional interview team to help expedite the repatriation process.

Led by Phan Thi Minh, the new arrival raises the number of Vietnamese interviewers to 11.

The increase is designed to accommodate the number of people being sent home, which is expected to double in August. Two- thirds will be repatriated by airplane. (imn/mds)