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.