Chairman to take responsibility for registration result

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara (JP): The chairman of the organizing committee for the East Timor refugee registration in East Nusa Tenggara, Amin Rianom, said on Thursday that he was ready to take responsibility for the results of the registration process.

"We have conducted the registration proceedings based on international standards, despite its shortcomings. And I am responsible to the Indonesian government and the United Nations Organization for that," Rianom told reporters.

"Therefore, the observers alleging that the registration process was legally defective should have some evidence. We invited 32 foreign observers, but only 12 accepted the invitation. International observers can not just say that the proceedings were illegal. They were only 12 of them, how can they monitor all the registration sites?"

Rianom said earlier that the 12 foreign observers were among 41 who were requested to monitor the registration process at more than 500 registration sites.

The registration proceedings were criticized by some who said extending the registration until Thursday showed the committee's poor preparation.

The registration was scheduled to last only one day, but as many had failed to register and some regencies did not submit tentative results on Wednesday, the committee prolonged the proceedings until Thursday.

The registration was organized by Indonesia in an effort to help refugees find a better life. All refugees were given the opportunity to choose whether they want to return to East Timor or remain in Indonesia. Those who choose to stay in Indonesia will be resettled in the future.

The registration is supposed to be a preliminary step toward the regulated handling of population and demography in Indonesia.

The tentative results of the registration made available at the committee's media center on Thursday revealed 42,531 of 47,173 voters chose to remain in Indonesia, while 4,259 wanted to leave and 368 abstained.

Maj. Gen. Wellem T. da Costa, the chief of Udayana Military Command overseeing Bali and East Nusa Tenggara, earlier said that those who refused to choose to stay or leave would be considered illegal immigrants.

Da Costa and Rianom said those who abstained deserved to be deported to East Timor.

However, the coordinator of the media center, Usman Abubakar, said on Thursday that it was up to the central government to decide how to handle them.

According to data, the number of refugees in 13 regencies and the mayoralty of Kupang has reached 99,313.

Observers noted that the registration ran peacefully, despite earlier threats from certain groups who wanted to sabotage the event.

Da Costa expressed on Thursday his satisfaction of the registration process.

"What we should do now is follow up on the registration results. Those choosing to leave should start packing while those choosing to stay in Indonesia should prepare for resettlement, as their refugee status will be dropped," Da Costa said. (30/sur)