Thousands of teachers opt out of East Timor

JAKARTA (JP): About 2,300 teachers in East Timor have demanded the government move quickly to transfer them and their 15,000 family members from the troubled province.

Representative of the teachers presented their demands on Tuesday to Director General of Elementary and Secondary Education, Indra Djati Sidi, who was visiting the East Timor capital of Dili to assess their situation.

The government, however, said the transfer would not take place until at least the end of the month.

Intimidation and assault against teachers, mostly hailing from Java, has been intensifying since President B.J. Habibie declared his intention to grant East Timor independence if its people rejected the government's autonomy offer.

The announcement has caused tension to escalate between proindependence and prointegration groups. Migrants -- teachers or people employed in other fields -- were especially vulnerable to acts of violence.

Minister of Education and Culture Juwono Sudarsono said on Tuesday relocations were scheduled to begin at the end of March.

"This is a tentative plan. It would be impossible to move them simultaneously. We have to wait for further political development," Juwono told The Jakarta Post.

The first step was to establish an inventory list for each teacher and whether it was necessary for him or her to be transferred immediately. The procedure would take about a month, he said.

The government has already allocated Rp 50 billion (US$5.5 million) to finance the resettlement. About 3,000 teachers are posted in East Timor, but 700 of them have pledged to remain.

"Priority will be given to teachers who have been in the province more than 10 years and those who have experienced various forms of abuse. We will arrange for them to leave first," Juwono said.

Recalling a brutal incident in which two teachers were killed last year, he said: "We are deeply concerned... this (situation) disrupts the learning process."

He said the ministry was planning to issue "vouchers" for the teachers to eliminate administrative work.

The vouchers will explain the transfer cost, estimates of damaged and lost goods, the government subsidy amount and the amount the teachers will be required to pay, he said.

Antara reported from the East Timor capital of Dili that Indra met with representatives of teachers on Tuesday, following a demonstration of 1,000 teachers on Monday.

The teachers wept as they recounted the abuses they had suffered in the territory. One elementary school teacher, Puji Astuti, said two students hit her face when she requested they produce identity cards for an examination.

"They became angry and hit me. I lost two teeth," Puji said of the 1997 incident.

She said she lodged a complaint with police, who failed to even investigate the incident.

Another teacher, Raden Jaka Prihindarto, posted in Baucau district, recalled how his students once drew up a list of teachers who would be targeted for violent actions.

"They threatened us if we flunked them. One of my colleagues was beaten and thrown into a well."

Emanuel Bajama, a teacher posted in Liquica Regency for 16 years, recounted how he was chased by knife-wielding students and beaten by parents. Once, students beat him until he collapsed and kicked him on the head repeatedly in front of the school master.

"If the students received a mark below seven, they would be angry and threaten us." (edt)