Governor asked to help E. Timorese

Governor asked to help E. Timorese

JAKARTA (JP): Former East Timorese prointegration leader
Eurico Gueterres met with Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso on Tuesday to
request that the city administration help relocate East Timorese
who have opted to remain in Indonesia.

According to Eurico, there are around 50 to 100 East Timorese
families who want to reside in Jakarta and need help on
administrative matters and citizenship.

"I and the other East Timorese opted to stay in Indonesia in
the June 6 registration, so we asked Sutiyoso to help the East
Timorese who want to stay in the city with further administrative
arrangements," Eurico said as quoted by Antara after meeting
Sutiyoso at City Hall.

He said that many East Timorese had lived in Jakarta for quite
some time and had found employment in the civil service, the
military/police and in the private sector.

"They are still using East Timorese identification cards,
which will expire within five years, so they will be needing
assistance in obtaining Indonesian citizenship," Eurico said.

Some 53,000 East Timorese families opted to stay in Indonesia
in the official refugees registration near the border of East
Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and East Timor on June 6. Only around 1,500
East Timorese opted to return to East Timor.