Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – A number of foreigners, mostly wives of diplomats, have been reportedly flowing out of East Timor due to safety concerns ahead of the March 17 presidential election, Indonesian ambassador to Dili, Eddy Setiabudhi, said on Thursday.
"They are concerned with the situation there both before and after the presidential election," he told reporters on the sidelines of an East Timor-Indonesia border coordination meeting in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).
"The wives are taking leave to return to their home countries. They will return if the election goes smoothly."
Attending the meeting were NTT Vice Governor Esthon Foenay, 161 Wirasakti Regional Military Command chief Col. Edison Napitupulu and a number of other military officers.
The concerns, Eddy said, were based on the experience of the previous presidential election when President Ramos Horta was nearly killed in an incident. "They are also worried that clashes some time ago between soldiers and policemen at Dili Hospital, which caused two people to be injured, could happen again," he said.
The latest incidents took place on Feb. 20 when Molotov cocktails were thrown into the offices of the National Election Commission (CNE) and the Technical Secretariat for the Administrations of Election (STAE). There were no casualties in the latest incidents.
The coordination meeting discussed the possibility that the election would end in riots and also discussed strategies to evacuate Indonesians from the former 27th province.
"If it is chaotic, the Indonesian Embassy has prepared a number of evacuation points for Indonesians, such as through Pertamina in Dili as well as in other locations in every district," Eddy said.
"If evacuation is to be conducted through sea, Pertamina's wharf in Dili is a good place for evacuation. Another location is the airport, if the evacuation is going to be carried out using the Air Force's Hercules airplanes."
The Dili-Kupang sea evacuation route can be covered in eight to nine hours.
Eddy also revealed that registered Indonesians in East Timor included 5,774 adults, 859 toddlers, 14 midwives and 493 people who married to foreigners. Another 400 Indonesians had yet to register themselves to the embassy, he said.
"We have prepared contact numbers should the situation become worse." Esthon said the provincial administration was closely monitoring the situation in the neighboring country. The provincial administration expects the Foreign Ministry to prepare a team in Kupang so that we can evaluate the emergency situation faster," he said.
Meanwhile, Col. Edison said so far border security was conducted using standard operation procedures without special precautions. (nvn)