485 Timorese will go to 13 provinces

DILI (JP): The local office of the Ministry of Manpower plans to send 485 local workers to 13 provinces between 1997 and 1998, Director of Job Placement Josef Susanto said Saturday.

Josef told Antara that they would be sent as part of program to widen the horizons and develop skills and work experience of East Timorese. Last year 600 East Timorese were placed in 10 provinces, he said.

He said they would go to provinces in Sumatra, West Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, Maluku, East Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara.

The ministry says by 1996, 2,205 East Timorese had been sent to other provinces to work. Ninety percent stayed in their placements but 10 percent returned to work in the province. (01)