Government to extend aid to refugees

Government to extend aid to refugees

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

The government will extend until the end of January 2002 the
provision of humanitarian assistance to more than 100,000 East
Timorese refugees who have yet to decide whether they will stay
in Indonesia or return to their homeland, says a military
official.

Maj. Gen. Willem T. da Costa, chief of the Udayana Military
Command overseeing Bali, West and East Nusa Tenggara, said the
government's decision on the extension had been motivated largely
by the lack of any clear signal from the refugees on whether they
intended returning to East Timor or remaining in Indonesia.

"The decision on the extension of the humanitarian assistance
provision was announced by Coordinating Minister for People's
Welfare Jusuf Kalla in Jakarta a few days ago. It was made on the
basis of humanitarian considerations and with the hope that
refugees would decide on their futures during January 2002," he
said here on Friday.

Previously, the government had announced it would halt its aid
to the refugees at the end of this month, in a bid to encourage
them to decide whether they would stay in Indonesia or return
home. East Timorese leader Jose Alexandre Xanana Gusmao, during
his recent visit to the region, urged the refugees to return and
gave a guarantee that they would be treated humanely if they did
so.

So far, the government has provided the refugees with Rp 1,500
(US$0.15) and 400 grams of rice per person per day and has
offered Rp 750,000 per family if they decide to return home.

Of the 295,000 East Timorese currently living as refugees in
the province, almost 140,000 have chosen to return to East Timor,
while 40,000 have decided to stay in Indonesia and will join the
government's resettlement program in other provinces. Last week,
around 150 East Timorese families who decided to stay in
Indonesia left for Lampung to join a resettlement program.

Da Costa called on the remaining refugees to make a decision
to allow the government to resolve the refugee problem
immediately.

"If the refugees decide to stay in Indonesia, the government
has allocated more than 11,000 hectares of farm land in
Kalimantan," he said, adding the government had earmarked Rp 32
billion to repatriate those returning to East Timor.

He also denied that the local military had intimidated the
refugees to return home immediately.

"I have received accusations from many sides that soldiers and
I have intimidated the refugees. The accusations are groundless
because such an action would tarnish the country's image
internationally," he said.