Xanana fails to bring home 26 asylum seekers in NTT

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara

East Timor President Xanana Gusmao called on East Timor asylum seekers on Monday in the Indonesia's territory of Atambua here to return to their homeland in East Timor.

But, his appeal was quickly rejected by the asylum seekers, who still fear intimidation back home.

Xanana conveyed the appeal in a meeting with the 26 East Timor asylum seekers, held in the Belu Police Headquarters, in the Belu regency capital of Atambua.

In the short 20-minute meeting on Monday, the President assured them that they would be safe back home.

"Your safety is assured back home. The state will assure the safety of its citizens regardless of their background," he said.

Xanana also promised the asylum seekers that his government would take strong action against anybody in East Timor who intimidated the asylum seekers back home. "You have to trust us. If you can't trust us, whom else can you trust?," Xanana told them.

The 26 asylum seekers sneaked into the Indonesian territory on Oct. 15 due to intimidation in their homeland in Bobonaro district, East Timor. Their request for asylum from the Indonesian government is still being processed.

Despite the call to return to East Timor, Cornelio Martins, one of the asylum seekers, told Xanana in the meeting that they doubted that the intimidation would end.

The degree of intimidation had been so profound in their homeland that not only the head of the family, but, even the children have also been harassed.

"Neighbors have prevented our children from going to school, only because they are children of ex-East Timor refugees, who once supported the integration of East Timor with Indonesia," said Cornelio.

Cornelio went on to say that it would be better for the asylum seekers to die of starvation overseas, rather than being killed by their own relatives or neighbors back home.

East Timor separated from Indonesia after the East Timorese, in a United Nations-sponsored popular ballot in 1999, voted overwhelmingly to establish their own state.

Meanwhile, another asylum seeker Saturnina dos Santos said that the presence of their relatives in Atambua was another reason why they chose to seek asylum in Indonesia.

At least, their relatives could give them shelter and help them to start a new life in the Indonesian territory, he said.

After the brief meeting in Atambua, Xanana and his entourage headed to the border of Oecussi and North Central Timor, where he is scheduled to meet pro-integration supporters in the area on Tuesday. During his tour, Xanana is accompanied by East Timor's home minister Rogerio Lobato and deputy speaker of East Timor Legislative Assembly Jacob Fernandez.