Nearly 300,000 displaced in January-August period

JAKARTA (JP): Nearly 300,000 people were displaced by communal and sectarian conflict in various parts of Indonesia between January and August, further straining government resources, officials said on Thursday.

The number of people accommodated in mostly makeshift refugee camps swelled to 1,305,886 from 1,038,276 during the period, Director General for the Prevention of Social and Health Problems at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare Sumaryati Arjoso said.

And the number was rising, Sumaryati told a public debate on the problems of refugees.

"You can imagine the challenge facing central government with 1.3 million refugees, because for their food alone, it has to spend Rp 3.26 billion ($362,000) a day," Sumaryati said.

In a keynote address, Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Jacob Nuwa Wea said President Megawati Soekarnoputri had ordered that the problem be resolved quickly, while simultaneously preventing new conflicts from erupting in other areas.

"We realize that the refugee problem is a complex one and the government's ability to tackle it is very limited," Jacob said, calling on the support and participation of the entire nation.

Jacob's office provided a more moderate figure, putting the number of refugees at 1.26 million on July 31.

Sumaryati's figures, based on a report by Bakornas PBP, the coordinating agency to handle disasters and refugees, did not give details of where the additional 300,000 refugees had come from in the last seven months.

The 1.3 million refugees are being accommodated in shelters in 19 provinces (see accompanying table).

The figures include East Timorese who were displaced by the violent destruction which erupted after the territory overwhelmingly voted for independence in August 1999. Only the East Timorese are officially considered to be refugees by the United Nations, entitling them to international assistance.

The others, victims of sectarian and communal wars in Aceh, Maluku, North Maluku, Central Sulawesi, Central Kalimantan, West Kalimantan and Irian Jaya are considered to be "internally displaced people", putting the burden of containing them solely on the Indonesian government.

Sumaryati said the government had allocated Rp 693.5 billion ($77 million) from its 2001 budget to handle the refugee problem.

While considering the amount as sufficient, she admitted that the food allocation -- Rp 1,500 and 400 grams of rice per day per person -- could hardly provide the minimum 2,100 calories per day intake that a person needed to lead a healthy life.

Sumaryati put housing and basic amenities at the top of the list of problems encountered in the field.

Most refugees were either living in makeshift shelters or accommodated in the homes of local people, she said, adding that some were living in miserable conditions.

In addition, their mental health was deteriorating due to traumatic experiences and the appalling conditions at the camps.

Many refugees also suffered from "post-traumatic stress" once they had appreciated their status as refugees, with little hope of repossessing their property, livelihood, or even members of their family. The appalling conditions in the camps had only aggravated their problem, she said.

Other issues encountered include the provision of basic logistics such as food, unnecessary delays or complications caused by red tape, security problems, and the health of the refugees.

The government had yet to handle the specific problems of the most vulnerable groups, including babies, children, women and the elderly, she said.

Director General of Population Mobility at the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration Harry Heriawan Saleh said the most effective, efficient and least costly solution would be to repatriate the refugees.

By the first week of August, more than 28,000 refugees, including nearly 11,000 East Timorese, had been repatriated, he said.

The next alternative would be to relocate or resettle them, Harry said, pointing out that the government would have to spend up to Rp 18 million ($2000) per family.

The government hoped to relocate 13,910 families in 2001, he said. (07)