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.