Twenty-six East Timorese citizens have requested political asylum

Twenty-six East Timorese citizens have requested political asylum
from the Indonesian government due to fear of intimidation back
home, an Indonesian official has said.

However, the Indonesian government initially turned down the
request on the grounds that the 26 East Timorese previously
refused to become Indonesian citizens, said Col. Moeswarno
Moesanip, the chief of Wirasakti Military Resort overseeing East
Timor Province (NTT).

"The 26 East Timorese took refuge in Indonesia after the 1999
East Timor mayhem, and they were given a chance to obtain
Indonesian citizenship.

"However, instead of doing that, they returned later on to
their hometown and became citizens of East Timor," Moeswarno told
The Jakarta Post.

The 26, who are now being accommodated at Belu police station
in NTT, were part of a group of 48 East Timorese citizens who
recently crossed into NTT after claiming to be victims of
intimidation in East Timor.

The remaining 22 East Timorese citizens, who are now living in
several refugee camps in Belu regency here, have yet to request
political asylum from the Indonesian government.

The 48, who came from Bobonaro district, East Timor, were
among some 250,000 East Timorese who fled the mayhem in East
Timor in 1999, when angry pro-Indonesian militias, allegedly
backed by elements of the Indonesian Military, burned down the
East Timor capital of Dili after the majority of the East
Timorese voted to break away from Indonesia.- JP