NGOs protest Timor registration plan

East Timorese refugees arrive in a camp in West Timor

(CNN) -- Non-government organizations are up in arms over an Indonesian government plan to register up to 100,000 refugees in West Timor, saying it will have "long term dangerous consequences."

The plan calls for the government to ask the refugees, from East Timor, whether they want to permanently resettle in West Timor.

The East Timorese are the last of an estimated quarter of a million refugees who were forced across the border by pro-Jakarta militia after East Timor's pro-independence vote in 1999.

Several groups spearheaded by the U.S.-based East Timor Action Network said that any registration that occurs while pro-Jakarta milita was in control of the camps "will not only be inaccurate but will have long term dangerous consequences."

"Plans to permanently resettle refugees throughout West Timor, especially near the border, will threaten the peace and security of both East and West Timor for years to come, creating a long-term breeding ground for militia activities," a letter to U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia Richard Gelbard from a number of NGOs said.

The network also questioned the timing of the registration, which the Indonesian government has said needed to be done on June 6, so those who want to return to East Timor can register for the territory's Constituent Assembly Elections.

"It is highly unlikely that refugees choosing to return to East Timor will be able to repatriate and settle into East Timor in time to register by [the deadline] June 20," they said.

Promises of security

Indonesia has promised it would impose tight security over the camps during the one-day registration.

Local media reports have said 1,600 registration officials and more than 4,000 troops have been deployed to make the process as smooth as possible.

The border between West and East Timor has also been closed for two days, from June 5 to 7 to promote the registration, the Jakarta Post said.

No one would be allowed to cross the border, "even if they have official documents," the Post said.

"I will deem anyone attempting to scuttle the registration as rebels against the lawful government of the Republic of Indonesia and the police are free to arrest them," the Antara News Agency quoted the military commander overseeing West Timor, Major General Willem da Costa as saying.

Concerns over Indonesia's refugee registration system have been raised in the past.

In October, 2000, Human Rights Watch called on Jakarta to halt the process "until minimum safeguards are in palce for them [the refugees] to choose freely, whether they wish to return to East Timor or settle in Indonesia."

At the heart of international concern was Jakarta's perceived unwillingness to disarm or punish members of loyal milita who were behind the weeks of violence which followed East Timor's pro-independence vote.

That view was strengthened when an Indonesian court handed down what was seen as lenient sentences to six milita leaders for the murders of three United Nations aid workers.