Allowance for E. Timor refugees

Allowance for E. Timor refugees

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara: The government has offered a bonus
of between Rp 7 million and Rp 15 million to each East Timorese
family currently living in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) who are
willing to return home.

East Nusa Tenggara deputy governor Johanis Pake Pani told The
Jakarta Post in Kupang on Monday that the bonus was considered
the most appropriate format for settling the refugee issue
because since their exodus to West Timor in 1999, hundreds of
billion of rupiah had been spent on their daily needs.

The East Timorese repatriation program is organized in
cooperation with the International Organization for Migration,
the UN High Commission for Refugees and various world
humanitarian bodies.

Pake Pani indicated that with a view to reducing the state
financial burden, the government was convinced that by giving
such allowances to those ready for repatriation, the budget
ceiling for refugees across the country (now numbering up to two
million) could be lowered.

"Camp life is much costlier than repatriation expenses and the
government cannot afford to support their needs any more," he
said.

Data provided by a number of government agencies, private
institutes, international nongovernmental organizations and other
world bodies handling refugees in the province show that over Rp
530 billion has been disbursed for the evacuees, coming from
state and regional budgets, foreign aid and third-party
donations.

The deputy governor, concurrently the regional coordinator of
East Timorese refugee registration, also confirmed the
manipulation of data by heads of camps, which has lead to
misleading figures that show a significant increase in the number
of refugees.

It is alleged that refugee registration had been marked up to
340 families or 11,606 people as listed in a number of camps,
thus enabling them to receive more aid than was actually needed.

Therefore, he continued, "the government will issue new
identity cards (KTPS) for refugees to replace the yellow cards
they received in June to prevent double allocations."

"All refugees families are now required to possess KTPS in
order to get their fair share. Those having no such cards will be
denied aid," he added.

Based on figures of the Central Board of Statistics
registration committee, there are 51,868 families or 284,148 East
Timorese refugees in the province, lower than the provisional
June data of 53,000 families or 295,754 people. (30/arp)