Government offers incentives for East Timorese refugees

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

The government says it will offer East Timorese refugees formerly employed by the Indonesian government in East Timor, up to Rp 15 million if they return home.

East Nusa Tenggara Governor Piet A. Tallo said refugee status would be revoked by December 31. Those refusing to return home after the deadline would automatically become Indonesian citizens and would be obliged to obtain passports and visas if they wanted to visit their former homeland.

"The decision is in line with the decree issued by the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla in October ... and is also to follow up the recent call by East Timor President Xanana Gusmao during his recent visit here," Piet told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

The government would give Rp 1.5 million to other East Timorese refugees wanting to return home under the repatriation program, he said.

Early this month, Xanana made a four-day visit to West Timor to encourage the remaining 33,000 East Timorese refugees to return home. He said they would be safe if they returned.

The refugees are a fraction of the 295,000 people who fled in the wake of widespread violence following the 1999 ballot in favor of the former Indonesian province's independence.

The country officially became independent on May 20, 2002.

There have been a number of deadlines for repatriation. Earlier, the government extended its deadline for about 128,000 East Timorese to vacate refugee camps in West Timor until June 20, 2002, due to "humanitarian considerations".

Many have been reluctant to return home because of their links to the Indonesian military, police or other government departments during Indonesia's occupation.

The government has previously threatened to forcibly remove the refugees from the camps, blaming financial constraints.

A local task unit dealing with the refugees said that following Xanana's visit, more than 179 families had registered to repatriate.

"We are optimistic that there will be more East Timorese refugees registering with the program ... because UNHCR and IOM will end their services in East and West Timor by the end of this year, along with the Indonesian government," Piet said.