Government closes down Galang boatpeople camp
By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat
GALANG ISLAND, Riau (JP): The island of Galang began a new chapter yesterday as officials formally closed the Indo-Chinese camp for boatpeople that has hosted nearly 250,000 asylum-seekers over the past two decades.
The camp was symbolically shut down in a ceremony attended by the Asia and Oceania bureau director of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Francois Fouinat, and the head of Indonesia's Galang '96 humanitarian task force, Maj. Gen. Arie Kumaat.
Fouinat said the successful repatriation and the closing of the camp mark a "decent and humanitarian conclusion."
"Indonesia can rightly be proud of the treatment of the boatpeople in Galang and their repatriation," he said in front of some 100 assembled security guards and staff members who have overseen the last months of repatriation.
He conveyed a special message of thanks to the local residents of Galang, who, despite living modestly, extended a gracious welcome to the boatpeople. At times, the number of boatpeople living there reached 25,000.
Located just south of Singapore, Galang was opened as a temporary shelter for Vietnamese and Cambodian boatpeople in 1975.
While the 80-square-kilometer island is now quiet with only 60 resident families living there, the island has sheltered more than 248,000 boatpeople over two decades.
In an attempt to finally resolve the problem of the boatpeople in Southeast Asia, the UNHCR earlier this year set an end of September deadline before cutting funding for most of its camps in the region.
Most leaving Galang earlier this year were boatpeople who had been identified as economic refugees and not eligible for political asylum in a third country.
To expedite the repatriation, Jakarta in June established an inter-departmental task force with the Armed Forces. Using mostly naval transports the task force was able to repatriate 4,500 boatpeople in the past three months.
Indonesia is also anxious to develop Galang as part of the ambitious Barelang (Batam, Rempang and Galang islands) bonded zone area. Construction is already underway to construct bridges linking the three islands.
The last group of boatpeople was returned last week.
Fouinat hailed Indonesia's success in peacefully and persuasively carrying out the repatriation.
"It has been conducted in a dignified and humanitarian way," he said.
Maj. Gen. Arie Kumaat said Indonesia was proud it could assist and will continue to extend humanitarian assistance whenever possible.
"Humanitarian duties will always exist as long as human beings are alive," he remarked.
Before touring the abandoned makeshift huts which used to house the boatpeople, Kumaat and Fouinat signed an agreement to hand over all of the UNHCR's infrastructure on the island to the Indonesian government.
UNHCR's representative to Indonesia, Robert Cooper, would not reveal the nominal value but said the infrastructure basically consisted of buildings, cars and the island's water system which he said was one of the best in the area.
Some of the worthier buildings remaining include a hospital and its hospital beds.
When asked, Cooper told The Jakarta Post that there are 12 boatpeople currently awaiting departure at the nearby Tanjung Pinang port for relocation to a third country. They will be leaving for Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.
Yesterday's ceremony on Galang was capped off by bayonet-and- pistol-touting soldiers singing the John Lennon composition of peace and hope, Imagine.