TNI alleges GAM members among RI deportees from Dili

TNI alleges GAM members among RI deportees from Dili

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post/Kupang

Over 270 people, who were deported from East Timor, were moved
into a dormitory belonging to East Nusa Tenggara's Manpower and
Transmigration Office in Kupang on Thursday.

Dozens of police personnel tightly guarded the dormitory, and
even prohibited journalists from taking pictures or interviewing
people, following a report that some Acehnese in the group were
believed to be members of the separatist group Free Aceh Movement
(GAM).

A senior military commander in Kupang has asserted that some
of the Acehnese were GAM members who were staying in East Timor
in a bid to learn guerrilla tactics from former East Timorese
militia.

"There is evidence (a photograph) that those people hoisted a
GAM flag during their stay in Dili, the capital of East Timor,"
said Col. Moeswarno Moesanip, the chief of Wirasakti military
resort overseeing East Nusa Tenggara province.

The picture, taken in Dili, was dated May 20, 2002.

All the people, including women, would be questioned by police
personnel before being allowed to return to their home provinces
across the nation, said Moeswarno.

Moeswarno divided the 274 people into two groups, the first,
those who lived in East Timor to earn a living, the second, those
who stayed in the neighboring country for political reasons.

The first group consists of people who opened canteens and
became small-scale traders in East Timor, while the second group
stayed in East Timor to learn from former East Timorese militias
about guerrilla warfare Moeswarno asserted.

East Timor militias had fought the Indonesian Military (TNI)
since Indonesia took over the tiny neighboring country in 1976.
East Timor finally separated from Indonesia after a UN-sponsored
popular ballot in 1999.

But, some people from the group rejected the allegation. A
person, who requested anonymity said that the group of 274 people
knew each other when they lived in Alor neighborhood in Dili, the
capital of East Timor.

"There are no people from Aceh in our group. There is one
person of Acehnese descent, his mother is Acehnese, but he was
raised in Java," he said.

The 274 people were deported from East Timor on Tuesday for
failing to produce a valid passport or visa, and reached East
Nusa Tenggara territory on the same day. They arrived in Kupang,
the capital of East Nusa Tenggara province on Wednesday.

Many men in the group wore Muslim caps, while the women wore
scarfs. There were a good number of children in the group as
well.