East Timorese refugees seek justice

Andi Hajramurni and Suherdjoko, Makassar/Semarang

Dozens of East Timorese refugees have camped in front of the South Sulawesi High Court since Monday, demanding that it annul its verdict, which favors an alleged corruptor.

The high court recently annulled the Pangkep district court's February ruling that sentenced the head of the social office in Pangkep regency, Bisman, to five years in prison.

The district court had also fined him Rp 250 million.

The case was brought before the high court for review, Bisman's prison sentence was lowered to 15 months and the fine, lifted.

"Where is the justice? The defendant embezzled people's money but was only sentenced to 15 months in prison," said Abdul Hamid, the coordinator of the East Timorese refugees in Pangkep regency.

The refugees had complained of receiving less aid than the government had promised them, while others said they received nothing at all.

The refugees fled the newly established country after it separated from Indonesia in 1999.

Abdul explained there were 499 refugee families in Pangkep but only 170 families had received government aid. The 170 families received Rp 3.5 million each, less than had been promised.

The refugees, angered by the low payments, demanded an investigation of the disbursement process, which eventually led to the district court's verdict against Bisman.

Achmad, a high court official, told the refugees the high court could not alter its verdict, but if they were dissatisfied they could appeal to the Supreme Court.

In response, the protesters vowed on Tuesday they would stay at the high court until it changed its verdict.

Separately, a group of East Timorese refugees living in Central Java demanded on Tuesday the government pay more attention to the plight of refugees in the province.

Batista Sufakevi, the coordinator of the group, who claimed that he represented some 20,000 East Timorese refugees living in Central Java, said that the refugees deserved proper housing, education and soft loans to start businesses.

Batista said representatives of the group would meet with President Megawati next week.

He estimated that there were more than 200,000 East Timor refugees living in various parts of Indonesia, including in Bali, East Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi and Central Java.