Kupang – A top military officer here said East Timorese refugees in East Nusa Tenggara province no longer feel they have leaders. The sentiment now prevailed among the refugees because those claiming to be their leaders had never paid attention to their fate, Chief of Udayana regional military command Major General Willem da Costa said.

Those leaders include Eurico Guterres and those coming from the East Timorese Knights Union (Untas), he said. "If they want to remain acknowledged as leaders, they should not let the refugees suffer alone," da Costa told reporters after meeting with Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Ric Smith at El Tari airport here early this week.

He said the refugees living in camps in the province, which directly shares a border with East Timor, would lose their balance if their wish to return to East Timor through "official gates" was frustrated. "We [the Indonesian military] urge them to return to their homeland, and they [refugees] enthusiastically and sincerely welcome the calls."

However, the calls on the refugees were not warmly welcomed by the East Timorese leaders living outside the camps, and they describe the calls to return to East Timor as intimidation and coercion by the Indonesian military, he said. "Eurico Guterres accuses me of terrorizing the refugees who want to return to East Timor," he said. "Thus, for him and the other members of the East Timorese political elite, I want to confirm whether it is true that I have done the intimidation or not because none of the refugees report it to Untaet [if it is true]," da Costa said.

During the repatriation process of the refugees who chose to return home, none of the Untas' political elite was seen on the border line but kept staying in Jakarta and shouting from the capital city, he added.