Kupang – The leaders of two ex-East Timorese refugee organizations have urged the Indonesian government to refrain from deporting 26 East Timorese asylum seekers currently staying in Atambua, East Nusatenggara, citing humanitarian considerations.
"The fate of these Timorese asylum seekers should be settled through the legal and human rights mechanism. So it is not necessary to force them into a situation unfavorable to them," Miguel Epifano Amaral, chairman of the Bati Foundation's Parents' Asssociation, said here on Thursday.
He was commenting on a statement of the Wirasakti military district commander that the military would soon send the East Timoreses asylum seekers back to their home country.
Amaral pointed out the 26 East Timorese nationals were requesting political asylum so they deserved to be treated in accordance with international laws on asylum seekers.
The East Timorese asylum seekers left their homes in East Timor's Bobonaro district as they could no longer bear continuous intimidation and threats from people who used to be proindependence before East Timor seceded from Indonesia in 1999, he said.
Because of the continuous intimidation, the asylum seekers eventually decided to leave their home country and head for Atambua via secret paths to seek asylum in Indonesia.
At present, they are being sheltered at the Belu police station in Atambua while the local police are considering to deport them to their home country.
Amaral said if the government decided to send them back to East Timor, it would be forever held responsible for their fate.
"If they are forced to return to their home country and then get murdered there, who will be responsible for this. The Indonesian government should understand that the reason these East Timorese are seeking political asylum in Atambua is that they feared for their lives," he said.
Deplorable
Echoing Amaral's view, Hukman Reni, declarator of the East Timorese Refugees Presidium (PPTT), said the Wirasakti military distict commander's statement about the 26 East Timorese asylum seekers was deplorable.
The commander was reported to have said that the 26 East Timorese's act in seeking political asylum was nothing more than a "new mode" to engage in crininal activity.
"The commander's statement labelling the asylum seekers as criminals represents a sadistic judgement. This is ridiculous and could enrage the people as a whole," Hukman said.
He said it was highly unlikely that ordinary people like the 26 East Timorese asylum seekers could have criminal intentions.
Therefore, Hukman said, the best solution for the East Timorese asylum-seekers would be for the government to find a way to send them to a country of their choice and not to deport them to their home country where their lives were in jeopardy.