Refugees await their fate in squalor, filth
Pandaya, The Jakarta Post, Atambua, East Nusa Tenggara
East Timor, which declared independence on May 20, 2002 after almost 500 years of colonization, has to deal with a host of complicated problems and toil for a bright future. The Jakarta Post's Pandaya recently visited Indonesia's new neighbor to look at some crucial issues in the new nation.
The following is a report on East Timorese refugees still holed up in Indonesia's West Timor after almost three years. More reports on other issues will appear on this page next week.
The scene is typical at Haliwel refugee camp. Children show signs of serious malnutrition. They are too small and yet look much older than their age. Their faces are pale, their reddish hair tangled and their skin darkened from sunburn and dirt.
Sanitary is appalling. People live side by side with their dirty beloved pigs, cattle and chickens. Only a few can afford to buy clean water supplied with trucks by the local government- owned water enterprise. The rest have to queue up for water at local people's wells outside the camp.
Oh, carefully watch your step as you enter the camp - "landmines", a euphemism for waste of all kinds, are ubiquitous. Once you step in it, the stink won't go unless you remove your soles -- remember, water is scarce. And don't ask how the place smells. There is no such thing as a sewerage system - let alone electricity.
Life is getting harder at the camp, the largest among the dozens scattered in Belu district, which borders East Timor.
The refugees are counting down the days to evacuation, voluntary or otherwise. Their presence in the neighboring land is no longer welcome after they have spent almost three years there.
The Belu military district in Atambua, which is in charge of coordinating the repatriation program is stepping up its pressure disguised in the form of an "information campaign" telling them that they will be voluntarily going home by the end of June.
They have to vacate the camp and choose between voluntarily repatriation or becoming Indonesian citizens and supporting themselves.
Either way, they have to go because international assistance has been stopped and the Indonesian government is too broke to feed them.
"They have been here for too long. There is a limit to the sympathy. They have to go and relinquish the property to the rightful owners," Bria Yohanes, Belu deputy regent told The Jakarta Post.
Officials put the number of refugees in Belu regency at between 40,000 and 50,000. The actual number is difficult to obtain because many families have illegally procured more then one "red card" needed to get food and other aid.
Hot on the heels of the post-referendum destruction that displaced about 500,000 people in 1999, an estimated 260,000 East Timorese took refuge in the Indonesian half of Timor Island. The rest have been repatriated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
It is understood that most of the remaining refugees are members and families of pro-Indonesia militia groups blamed for the widespread destruction, killing, rape and looting in the 1999 post-referendum tragedy. Many refuse to return for fear of retribution.
President Xanana Gusmao has given them the deadline of June 20, a month after the proclamation of independence, to repatriate or lose privileges to obtain automatic citizenship.
To sound polite, the Indonesian government has given the refugees two options: voluntary repatriation or stay in Indonesia but leave the camp to be relocated under the state transmigration program or empower themselves.
The Belu military district has been summoning camp group leaders to its offices and visiting the camp as part of the go- home campaign.
"We will do everything to help them go home on their own will. We will provide the trucks and personnel to take them to the border and offer Rp 750,000 for each returning family," military district chief Lt. Col. Tjuk Agus Minahasa told The Jakarta Post.
The "information campaign" aims to make the refugees aware that Xanana's government has offered amnesty as part of his national reconciliation efforts if they repatriate and that their plight has been exploited by their pro-Indonesia leaders in Jakarta for political gain.
It also persuades the former militias to lay down their arms because war is no longer relevant now that East Timor has become an independent state and won international recognition. Instead, they are told, they should fight for their aspirations peacefully through political parties.
The Indonesian authorities have offered cash rewards for any militia member who surrenders their guns hidden in the various camps.
The Belu regency government is eager to see the refugees vacate the locals' property they have been occupying.
"By the June deadline, everyone of them will have to dismantle their own camp. They should no longer exploit other people's goodwill to help them," Bria said
Official statistics show that East Timor's independence has lured more and more refuges home. April saw the highest return rates after the UNHCR stopped assistance this year, with 1,129 families returning home. And in May, over 477 families have registered themselves for repatriation.
The Indonesian authorities' message is loud and clear: Go home because all the energy, money and sympathy have been exhausted. And it is apparently heard.