Susilo to meet Gusmao on deportation
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
East Timor President Xanana Gusmao is expected to meet President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday night in Bali, with the recent deportation of hundreds of Indonesians likely to be high on the agenda. The meeting will be the first between the two heads of state, after Susilo assumed power two months ago.
Xanana will arrive in Bali on Monday night, while there is no information as to when Susilo will arrive in the resort island, Antara news agency reported on Sunday.
If the meeting materializes, then Bali has strengthened its status as a traditional meeting point between high ranking officials from the two countries. Xanana had earlier met Megawati Soekarnoputri in Bali while she was in power.
Separately in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, as many as 245 deported immigrants finally arrived on Sunday after traveling for around 10 days from East Timor. Three other immigrants were left behind in Bali because they fell sick on the way to Medan.
The ship KM Kelud that transported them from Tanjung Priok port, Jakarta, reached Belawan port at noon on Sunday. The migrants later went to Langkat regency in four buses.
"We have come here to unite and hope that the Indonesian government will be able to urge the East Timor government to take us back," Adham Appe, one of the migrants, was quoted as saying by detik.com.
The migrants claimed that they had received harsh treatment from East Timor officials when they were ordered to leave their homes in Alor village.
The migrants were among more than 270 migrants deported from East Timor due to immigration offenses. Most of them worked as vendors and had lived in East Timor since the 1980s.
Meanwhile, President Susilo arrived in Jakarta on Sunday afternoon after paying a one-day visit to the quake-torn regency of Alor in East Nusa Tenggara.
He ordered local officials to calculate the cost of constructing quake-proof buildings and encouraged the massive construction of such buildings in the area to prevent more fatalities in the future.
Susilo also stressed that officials must disburse relief funds to the victims in a transparent and accountable manner.
Alor was jolted by a powerful quake on Nov. 12. At least 34 people were killed in the disaster.
After the Alor visit, President Susilo is scheduled to visit the Papua town of Nabire, which was also recently rocked by a major earthquake. Susilo will attend a Christmas celebration there, to be held on this coming Saturday.
Nabire was hit by a quake which registered 6.4 on the Richter scale on Nov. 26, resulting in the deaths of at least 32 people.
Former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is also the chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI- P), had visited both Alor and Nabire earlier.