Ex-East Timor Refugees: Access to Land Should Be Priority

KOMPAS/FRANSISKUS PATI HERIN

A hut leans precariously on Saturday (15/2/2020) at a former refugee camp in Tuapukan village, East Kupang district, Kupang regency, East Nusa Tenggara. The camp, about 30 kilometers from the provincial capital of Kupang, has continued to be occupied by East Timorese refugees since 4 Sept. 1999, even after their refugee status was lifted.

An affirmative policy in the form of providing land and livable homes with adequate infrastructure is one way to help former refugees from East Timor.

KUPANG, KOMPAS — The shackles of poverty will continue to plague former East Timor refugees as long as they do not have proper housing and access to land for farming activities. Without affirmative policies, it will be difficult to empower them economically. Moreover, their refugee status has long been lifted by the government.

As earlier reported, as many as 358 families of more than 1,000 people still live in the Tuapukan Camp in East Kupang district, Kupang regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). For the last 20 years, they have lived in shanty towns like refugees, even though the government lifted their refugee status in 2003. Most of them have not received housing or land assistance from the government (Kompas, 24/2/2020).

However, the program has not been fully realized.

The government has taken a number of steps to handle the former East Timorese citizens, including relocation, repatriation, transmigration, empowerment and living assistance. However, the program has not been fully realized.

"So, since 2003, the term ‘refugees’ has no longer been used. Until then, the government had poured trillions of rupiah into a budget for helping them [ex-East Timorese]. The money was used to buy land for those that did not have any and capital to start businesses for those who already owned land and houses," NTT public relations department head Marius Ardu Jelamu said on Monday (24/2/2020).

With the removal of the refugee status, the NTT provincial administration no longer afforded the former East Timor residents special treatment, treating them instead like any other residents of the province. As for the fact that some of them had also not received social assistance they were entitled to from the government, Marius said, this was due to data collection issues.

KOMPAS/FRANSISKUS PATI HERIN

Octogenarian Plisiana Goncalves, a former East Timorese refugee, stands in the door of her house on Monday (17/2/2020) in Kabuna village of Kakuluk Mesak district, Belu regency, East Nusa Tenggara.

Basic rights

Johanes Tuba Helan, a lecturer at the School of Law of the University of Nusa Cendana in Kupang, said the land issues for former East Timor residents should be solved. The local governments could work together to acquire land that had been abandoned, he suggested.

A member of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction at the House of Representatives (DPR) representing electoral district NTT I, Andreas Hugo Pareira, shared Johanes’ view. According to him, the government needs to pay special attention to the ex-East Timor refugees to meet their basic rights of life. "At least there must be land that can be cultivated, decent houses and educational opportunities for the children of former East Timor residents," he said.

The land redistribution program initiated by President Joko Widodo could be a solution to the problem of land access, both for former East Timorese and local residents.

A member of the Golkar faction in the DPR from electoral district NTT II, Emanuel Melkiades Laka Lena, said it was time for the government to implement an affirmative policy for NTT as a province that had a double burden, namely the handling of ex-East Timorese citizens and the local people\'s poverty. The land redistribution program initiated by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo could be a solution to the problem of land access, both for former East Timorese and local residents.

Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Mahfud MD said his office needed to get more information on the fate of ex-East Timorese still living in refugee camps.

Mahfud said that, in principle, the government remained committed to ensuring the survival of former East Timor refugees. All matters related to handling their problems had been delegated to the relevant ministries. "Here, we have a Citizenship Law, a Population Law and so on, it is complete. Let the relevant ministries take care of them," he said.

The Social Affairs Ministry promised to complete the provision of compensation for all East Timorese ex-refugees who live outside NTT. The recipients of compensation whose data had been verified and validated would get compensation according to Presidential Regulation No. 25 of 2016. Each family would receive compensation amounting to Rp 10 million.

KOMPAS/FRANSISKUS PATI HERIN

The child of an East Timorese refugee family eats a plate of plain rice on Friday (14/2/2020) at a former refugee camp in Oebelo village, Kupang regency, East Nusa Tenggara. Many East Timorese refugees live below the poverty line and cannot meet their children\'s nutritional needs.

The director of social protection for disaster victims of the Social Protection and Social Security Directorate General, M Syafei Nasution, said the number of ex-East Timorese citizens outside NTT was 32,175 families. The compensation was given in two stages, namely to 30,473 families in the first stage and 1,702 families in the second stage.

"The second phase of compensation payments for 1,702 ex-East Timor families outside NTT has so far reached 1,443 families. Thus, there are still 259 families in the process of disbursement," said Syafei. (KOR/FRN/SON/REC/BOW/WHY)