Timorese asylum seekers leave for Portugal
JAKARTA (JP): Waving "V" sings and thumbs up, the five East Timorese asylum seekers, who have been holed up at the British Embassy since Monday, left for Portugal yesterday evening under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Using two ICRC sedans, the Timorese youths departed from the embassy at 7:25 p.m. Two were seated in the first car and three in the second as their cars drove to Soekarno-Hatta airport.
Two embassy vehicles also joined the convoy. But a number of police cars that had also been outside the embassy did not take part in the motorcade.
The Timorese were to board a 9:45 p.m. Air France flight for Paris en route to Lisbon.
The five -- Egas Soares, Joaquim Alim, T.J. Fernandes, Antonio Baptista Sequiera and Nelson Turquel, all in their 20s -- entered the British Embassy at Jl. M.H. Thamrin on Monday and requested political asylum. They claimed fear of persecution for their involvement in clandestine activities in East Timor.
However it was Lisbon, and not London, who announced their willingness to accept the Timorese.
The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated as part of Indonesia in 1976. Britain is one of the European countries which does not recognize the integration.
The youths also claimed that they participated in the 1991 Dili protest, which resulted in the deaths of at least 50 demonstrators at the hands of security forces.
Indonesian officials have refuted the claims of the five youths saying they were never in a threatening situation. They have also stated that the five are not on any of the police's wanted lists and were therefore free to leave.
As they left the embassy compound the five Timorese seemed quite cheerful and waved from the window of the car to the hordes of waiting journalists.
This is the third such incident in two years. In July 1993 seven Timorese were holed up at the Swedish and Finnish embassies before getting asylum from Portugal. Last November, 29 Timorese also departed for Portugal as political refugees after occupying the United States Embassy grounds for one week.
Meanwhile in New York, Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said that the asylum plea was just another ploy aimed at embarrassing Indonesia.
"The pattern is becoming quite clear. Anytime there's an international event, our opponents abroad, particularly the former Fretilin members, maybe with some help from Portugal, try to find an excuse to attract attention," he said as quoted by Antara from New York.
Alatas is currently in New York to attend the opening session of the United Nations General Assembly.
"Those five are loafers and are in no way being hunted," the minister remarked.
He contended that the statement carried by the youths describing their clandestine activities is composed in near perfect English and concluded that it may have been composed abroad.
"Other signals indicate that it is a contrived game. We don't have to pay too much attention to it because it has no impact whatsoever," Alatas said.(mds)