Govt sets deadline for East Timor refugees
Govt sets deadline for East Timor refugees
Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang
As of January 2002, the government will no longer provide any
financial or food assistance to East Timorese refugees in West
Timor as it will reinstate the Indonesian citizenship of those
who choose to stay in Indonesia.
Yohannis Pake Mani, deputy governor of East Nusa Tenggara,
said that according to an official letter sent by Minister of
Home Affairs Hari Sabarno to the governor and regents in the
province on Oct. 25, 2001, the government had decided to grant
Indonesian citizenship status to all East Timorese refugees who
had not returned home by Dec. 31, 2001.
"Consequently, those who remain in the province beyond the
deadline will be treated as Indonesian citizens, will receive
their civilian rights and will be given Indonesian identity cards
as stipulated by Law No. 5/1960 on Indonesian citizenship," he
told The Jakarta Post here on Wednesday.
He added that the decision had been made following
consultations with the UN Development Program (UNDP) and UN High
Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).
More and more East Timorese refugees are returning to their
homeland as the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor
(UNTAET) has given a security guarantee for those who have chosen
to go home.
The government has offered Rp 500,000 and rice aid to refugees
who want to return.
Of around 143,000 East Timorese refugees in West Timor, more
than 8,000 have gone home while the remainder have been offered
the choice of remaining in the province permanently or joining
the government-sponsored resettlement program in other provinces.
During their stay in the province, the government has provided
the refugees with Rp 1,500 and 400 grams of rice per day per
person.
Yohannis said the refugees had actually retained their
Indonesian citizenship because they had been Indonesian citizens
during East Timor's integration with Indonesia.
But he added that the Indonesian citizenship of refugees who
chose to stay in Indonesia would be reinstated by a joint decree
to be issued by Minister Hari Sabarno, Minister of Justice and
Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Hassan Wirayuda in the near future.