Timorese asylum seekers leave for Portugal

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)