353 Bugis migrants leave East Timor

353 Bugis migrants leave East Timor

AMBENO, East Timor (JP): Feeling insecure after last week's
riot, 353 Bugis migrants, including 20 teachers, packed up and
left for their homeland in South Sulawesi yesterday.

They decided to return after being accommodated in local
police and military compounds since the incident in which one
Bugis person was killed and 80 migrants' houses razed.

"How could they stand living in Ambeno, while they were
homeless and had nothing to survive on?" Ambeno district police
chief Maj. Gusti Made Putu told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

He said he could understand that going back home was the best
solution for the migrants, who were mostly traders, because they
could get financial support from their relatives.

Gusti said the Bugis were escorted by mobile brigade police
officers while they prepared to leave the area from the town of
Kefa in East Nusa Tenggara.

Ambeno regent Filomeno da Costa Mesquita said Tuesday that he
had persuaded the migrants to stay in Ambeno. "They refused to
stay because they would be in danger if they did."

Six thousand East Timorese went on a rampage on Feb. 21 after
hearing that their priest, Lazarus Mau, had been given a box
containing leftover food during a post-Idul Fitri gathering with
local government officials two days earlier in the regency
capital of Pantai Makasar.

The angry mob also set fire to 86 houses belonging to the
Bugis community and destroyed three cars and four motorcycles.

Peace returned to this enclave only on Sunday after Lazarus,
organizers of the gathering and local authorities met to settle
the situation.

Lazarus said afterward the organizers had apologized for the
misunderstanding. Regretting the incident, the priest announced
to his Catholic congregation during Sunday's mass that the case
had been resolved.

The police arrested three people Saturday on charges of
inciting the riot. The police are also chasing a man suspected of
fatally stabbing Mahmud Abuh, a 30-year-old migrant from South
Sulawesi, and other rioters who burned down a market during the
riot.

Eleven people, including a rioter identified as Agustinho
Bonhe, 18, were injured in the incident.

Ambeno military district commander Lt. Col. Hambali has said
the rioting, the first ever in the regency, caused an estimated
Rp 2 billion (US$840,000) worth of damages. (33/imn)