Indonesia unable to help all Timorese refugees: Erna

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian government is unlikely to resettle all 52,750 East Timorese families who have chosen to remain in the country, a minister revealed on Sunday.

Minister of Resettlement and Infrastructure Erna Witoelar said the result of the refugees' registration process on June 6 was beyond the government's expectations.

"We are indeed unable (to accommodate the refugees). The government never expected to shoulder such a heavy burden," Erna said.

Of 53,824 East Timorese families registered earlier this month, 98 percent of them decided to stay in the country and retain their Indonesian nationality. The families comprise a total of around 224,000 people.

Erna said the government had expected only 24,000 East Timorese families at the most join the registration, in which they decided whether to remain in Indonesia or be repatriated. The minister added she had estimated only half of that number would opt to retain their citizenship.

"With 4,000 families already resettled, we would only have had to find permanent housing for 6,000 families and provide temporary accommodation for 2,000 families," Erna said, referring to previous expectations.

Previously, East Nusa Tenggara governor Piet Tallo had said that the province would be able to accept only 6,000 families.

There were reports that the number of East Timorese living in refugee camps in the East Nusa Tenggara half of Timor island increased prior to the registration, which had been delayed many times since originally being scheduled to take place early this year.

An estimated 250,000 East Timorese streamed into West Timor to flee violence following a United Nations-sanctioned plebiscite in Aug. 1999, which resulted in an overwhelming vote against Jakarta's wide-ranging autonomy offer.

The former Indonesian province had a population of 800,000 before the United Nations-sanctioned polls.

Erna said the government is seeking the international community's help, particularly from regular donor countries of East Timor, to help Indonesia cope with resettlement of the refugees.

She suspected that there had been little effort from observing countries in persuading the refugees to return to their home soil.

"In fact, East Timor is looking for more people to become civil servants. Therefore we, UNTAET (United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor), donor countries and observing countries should encourage repatriation of more East Timorese refugees," Erna said.

Meanwhile, the repatriation of East Timor refugees has been resumed after a temporary suspension in connection with the registration of refugees.

"Early last week, a total of 35 refugees, or around 14 families, were repatriated to East Timor while 125 refugees or around 31 families have registered for repatriation to East Timor," head of the Task Force for Refugee Problems Basyiruddin Yusuf told Antara in Denpasar on Saturday.

Following conclusion of the registration process, repatriation will be increased from three to five times a week except Saturday and Sunday.

It was agreed in a meeting between the task force, UNTAET, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Immigration Organization on June 13 that repatriation would be intensified from Jun. 15 to Aug. 15.

So far 9,120 refugees, around 2,460 East Timorese families, have been repatriated.