Maluku ready for repatriation

AMBON, Maluku: Seventeen people of Maluku origin will be repatriated from the Netherlands and resettled in the province next month.

Maluku Director of Village Development, Sahala P. Panggabean, told Antara yesterday that the seventeen would be reunited with their families and allowed to spend the rest of their lives here.

Thousands of people from Maluku, who opposed the inclusion of their province in Indonesia, were taken to the Netherlands when the Hague conceded sovereignty to the republic. Some of them have since returned to their homeland but many are still living in the Netherlands.

Sahala said that those who return generally don't have a problem integrating with the people. (03)