Timorese youths denounce asylum seekers
Timorese youths denounce asylum seekers
JAKARTA (JP): One hundred Timorese youth demonstrated at the House of Representatives yesterday to express disgust at the waves of East Timorese seeking asylum through various foreign embassies here.
As the demonstrators pledged their allegiance to the country yesterday, a group of four Timorese youths entered the French Embassy to seek asylum. They were following two previous groups of 21 and five youths, who asked for asylum through the Japanese and French embassies.
In Paris, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said yesterday his office was seeking to resolve asylum demands by the four East Timorese, who sought refuge in the French embassy in Jakarta. Just a few days earlier, another group had won asylum in Portugal, not in their intended destination.
"We are trying to find a humane solution to their problem," spokesman Jacques Rummelhardt told reporters.
All previous groups had failed to secure asylum in the countries of their choice and ending up leaving for Portugal under the auspices of the Jakarta office of the International Commission of the Red Cross.
Several similar attempts have also been made by East Timorese youths at the embassies of the United States and Britain. None succeeded in gaining access to those countries, and all of the asylum seekers eventually departed for Lisbon.
During the rally at the House building, the pro-integration demonstrators unfurled banners reading "East Timor a legitimate part of Indonesia" and "East Timorese youth seeking asylum are traitors". They also sang patriotic songs, in a manner which a legislator said gave him goose bumps.
The demonstrators said they were ashamed of the youths who sought refuge at the foreign embassies.
They said the claims that the asylum seekers were being persecuted were a lie and that this was merely a political ploy.
The former Portuguese colony of East Timor integrated into Indonesia in 1976. Several countries still refuse to recognize it as Indonesia's 27th province.
One of the demonstrators at the House yesterday, Mario Da Costa, said the asylum seekers were creating a very bad image of the Timorese.
"Not all Timorese are troublemakers. Most of us love our country, Indonesia," Mario said.
The demonstrators were met by several legislators representing all four factions of the House, including Aisyah Amini from the United Development Party, Theo Syafei from the Armed Forces faction and Marcel Beding from the Indonesian Democratic Party.
Aisyah Amini said there was no reason for the East Timorese youth who have left the country to seek asylum in the first place since they were not in any danger, nor were they being persecuted by the government.
"You are free to go anywhere you want in this country without a passport because all of you own Indonesia," she told the pro- integration supporters.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas, commenting on the wave of asylum seekers, said recently that they were just seeking a free ticket to get out of the country for economic reasons.
Foreign ministry officials said they were aware of and monitoring the latest development at the French embassy and are currently seeking to obtain further information. (mds)