Court case could have effect on more than 1,300 East Timorese

Court case could have effect on more than 1,300 East Timorese

SYDNEY (AFP): A test case with implications for more than
1,300 East Timorese asylum seekers is due to begin in the Federal
Court here today.

An East Timorese man, Jong Kim Koe, 23, is challenging a
Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) decision which found him to be a
refugee from Indonesia but a citizen of Portugal.

Under international law, Jong would be expected to go to
Portugal, losing his Indonesian nationality and his automatic
right to return to East Timor at a later date.

If he refused to go to Portugal voluntarily, he would have to
be deported to Indonesia where, the RRT found, there was a real
chance he would be persecuted.

Jong's lawyers said it was not clear if Portugal would
recognize their client as a citizen.

Jong was two years old when Indonesia entered the mainly Roman
Catholic island in December 1975, several months after Portugal
withdrew. The United Nations still recognizes Portugal as the
administrator but Australia is one of only a few countries which
recognizes Indonesian sovereignty in East Timor.

Since arriving in Australia on an Indonesian passport, he has
been denied protection three times by the Portuguese consulate in
Sydney.

"The Ambassador of Portugal... has never made any statement
which indicates that any East Timorese person, including the
applicant, is a Portuguese national," documents lodged with the
court said.

Australia had recognized Indonesian sovereignty over East
Timor since 1979 and that bound it to recognizing East Timorese
as Indonesians, the lawyers said.

"The Australian government has stated that Portugal does not
have the right to represent the interests of the East Timorese
people. It cannot in good faith argue the contrary at some later
point," they said.