Refugees demand food as ministers arrive

Refugees demand food as ministers arrive

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

Hundreds of East Timorese refugees demonstrated here on Friday to
demand food as Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf
Kalla visited the East Nusa Tenggara capital of Kupang along with
two fellow ministers.

The refugees staged a rally at the city's El Tari Airport,
where Kalla, Minister of Health Achmad Suyudi and Minister of
Regional Infrastructure and Resettlement Sunarno arrived to
attend a ground-breaking ceremony for the development of 5,000
houses in resettlement areas here.

During the visit, Kalla and the other two ministers also
delivered Rp 53 billion in humanitarian assistance from the
Japanese government for refugees still stuck in camps across the
province.

The protesters rejected the use of the assistance funds,
received by the provincial administration for the development of
resettlement areas and health services.

They demanded that the government hold talks with the
coordinators of refugee camps and other senior refugee leaders
before the Japanese aid was spent.

"What we need now is food, not health services. The refugees
are in a critical condition due to food shortages," Elio Soares,
a leader of the refugees, told The Jakarta Post.

"Therefore, it would be better if the assistance from the
Japanese government was partially used to provide food," he
added.

Responding to the demand, Minister Kalla said the Japanese
government was not only providing the assistance for the East
Timorese refugees, but also for indigenous people in East Nusa
Tenggara, who had been allowing part of their lands and assets to
be used to help the refugees for the last three years.

No violence was reported during the demonstration and the
ground-breaking ceremony held at Naibonat village in East Kupang
subdistrict ran smoothly.

Speaking during the ceremony, Kalla said the government should
have finished repatriating refugees to their homeland on Aug. 31,
2002, but because the East Timorese administration was ready to
receive them at anytime, the Indonesian government had extended
the deadline until Dec. 31.

He said that in the case of refugees wanting to return to East
Timor between October and December, the government here would
still provide them with Rp 1.5 million in compensation per
family, or Rp 300,000 per person.

Earlier, the amount of compensation had previously set at only
Rp 750,000 per family. Kalla did not explain how the increase had
come about.