RI begins clearing Galang of boat people

JAKARTA (JP): The military will repatriate 200 Indochinese boat people from Galang Island by sea tomorrow in a new drive to clear the island of all remaining Vietnamese and Cambodians who have overstayed their welcomes.

In all, 4,308 Vietnamese and 320 Cambodians will be repatriated by the end of the month, Armed Forces Chief of General Affairs Lt. Gen. Soeyono told reporters yesterday.

The government has hoped to turn the island -- which has accommodated more than 248,000 people since the first wave of boat people came in the mid-1970s -- into an industrial zone. The presence of the boat people repeatedly put the plan on hold.

"We can no longer delay the development program," Soeyono said.

The 4,000 or so boat people still on the island failed to gain refugee status, which would have given them tickets to a new life and homes in industrialized countries.

Hanoi has agreed to take them back, but -- in spite of assurances that they would not be persecuted -- many boat people have refused to return. On Tuesday, more than 200 Vietnamese migrants voluntarily left Galang island on board Vietnamese planes.

Soeyono promised that Indonesia would avoid using force in boarding the boat people onto the ships that would take them home.

The boat people will be shipped on board the Navy's tank- landing ships, each of which could accommodate 200 people, he said. He added that the trip from Galang to Ho Chi Minh City would take between three to four days.

Soeyono said the operation is being launched in view of a June 30 deadline agreed on during the meeting of the steering committee of the Comprehensive Plan of Action of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva, in March.

The plan of action was formulated in 1989 to help expedite the return of the boat people from various refugee processing centers in Asia, including Indonesia.

The UNHCR said that it would bear the repatriation costs.

Vietnamese boat people in other Asian countries, including Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines, are also being sent home in increasing numbers.

The UNHCR said last month that about 40,000 Indochinese refugees remain in camps throughout the region, at least half of them in Hong Kong.

Indonesia, along with other Asian recipient countries, had earlier hoped that the remaining boat people from Vietnam and Cambodia would return to their respective homes under voluntary repatriation programs. (imn)