More Vietnamese refugees repatriated

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia repatriated another 244 Vietnamese refugees from Galang Island under the Orderly Return Program on Wednesday, press reports said yesterday.

The Vietnamese were sent home on the Indonesian Navy's KRI Teluk Hading 538 after a ceremony attended by local military commander Maj. Gen. Arie J. Kumaat, chief of the United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees local office Robert Cooper and six Vietnamese government representatives.

The ceremony was filled with emotion when a refugee who represented his colleagues bade farewell to the present officials, Antara reported.

"We will never forget our experiences during our stay on Galang Island," the refugee said.

Several thousand Vietnamese on the island have been awaiting repatriation.

Wednesday's repatriation was the latest in a series of dispatches. Several hundreds had earlier been returned to Vietnam by plane.

Earlier this month, Chief of Armed Forces General Affairs Lt. Gen. Soeyono said recently the Indonesian government means to repatriate all of them by the end of this month.

A delegate from the Vietnamese government assured the refugees that they should not worry about their futures because they were needed to build Vietnam.

Meanwhile, AFP reported that Singapore, which is located near Galang Island, repatriated the 99 remaining Vietnamese boat people yesterday.

AFP described the repatriation as "the most orderly" ever carried out by any asylum country in Southeast Asia.

All the boat people, screened out of a resettlement program after being found to be economic migrants rather than political refugees, had signed up for the United Nations voluntary repatriation program. (pan)