Jakarta – The Indonesian government's plan to resettle pro-Jakarta militias and more than 100,000 refugees on an island just 60 km north of East Timor has been rejected by several leaders of the group, who argue that the move would not solve their problems.
Pro-integration leader Francisco Soares was quoted by the Indonesian Observer newspaper and the Antara news agency as saying that as far as the pro-Jakarta groups were concerned, "reinstating the Red-and-White Indonesian flag over East Timor is the essence of their struggle".
The Indonesian government offered to resettle the pro-Jakarta militias and other refugees on the island of Wetar during a meeting on Thursday between Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and militia leaders in Denpasar, Bali.
According to Mr Soares, who hails from Bobonaro, East Timor, the proposed resettlement would only take the East Timorese refugees further away from their goal of getting back their homeland.
"Some East Timorese might agree with the Indonesian government's plan. But the majority, including me, would find it difficult to accept. There would emerge many problems if we were concentrated on an island," the Indonesian Observer yesterday quoted him saying.
Another pro-Jakarta leader, Mr Francisco Amaral da Silva, said that the problem could not be resolved by resettling the refugees on an island. "We are here in West Timor not because we have lost remembrance of our fatherland. We are here fighting to take East Timor back into the fold of Indonesia," Mr da Silva said.
Mr Antonio Mendosa of the Timor Fighters Brotherhood (UNTAS) shared the view that a lack of transparency in the process of trying to settle differences between the East Timorese who voted for independence and those who still seek integration with Indonesia was causing the problems.
"Until the United Nations becomes transparent, the process of reconciliation among East Timorese will never bring about a favourable result," he said.
But a legislator Chris Boro Tokan said Jakarta was forced to come up with the resettlement plan following the killing of three UN humanitarian workers in Atambua, West Timor. "I see the offer as a move to overcome the deadlock in international politics in the wake of the Atan incident," he said.
The Atambua incident occurred when thousands of East Timorese refugees, led by pro-Jakarta militia gangs, attacked the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).