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)