Indonesian Government to Ease Visa Limits for East Timor Students, Give Civil Servants Pensions

Jakarta Globe

July 15, 2009

Government to Ease Visa Limits for East Timor Students, Give Civil Servants Pensions

by Putri Prameshwari

Indonesia plans to ease immigration rules for East Timorese students who want to remain in the country, a Justice and Human Rights Ministry official said on Tuesday.

As recommended by the now-disbanded Commission for Truth and Friendship, Indonesia would ease regulations for East Timorese students wanting to obtain visas, said Hafid Abbas, head of the research and development division at the ministry.

They have been dealing with a complicated bureaucracy," he said. "We want to simplify the process of getting a permit to stay, especially for refugees who still find it difficult to even get an identity card."

Hafid said there were more than 5,000 East Timorese students in Indonesia, with most studying at universities in Yogyakarta.

He said that under the proposed agreement East Timorese students would only be required to provide any document that proves they are a student. Thereafter, the local immigration office would coordinate with the Ministry of National Education to process the students' visas.

The new visas would also be extended from one year to two.

The new regulations are part of an agreement between Jakarta and Dili, the East Timor capital, that resulted from the Commission for Truth and Friendship's recommendations.

The agreement is expected to be endorsed during a meeting of representatives of the two governments in Dili on Sunday.

Hafid said the Indonesian government is also considering a visa-on-arrival policy for East Timorese. However, he said there were several points to discuss beforehand, including security issues, reciprocity and the benefits for both countries.

So far, we are thinking of giving visas on arrival only at several approved entry points," he said, adding that those entry points would be discussed at the meeting in Dili.

In addition to immigration matters, Indonesia is also prepared to pay pensions to more than 15,000 former civil servants, including military and police officers, who chose to become citizens of East Timor after independence.

Riskintono Rachman, operational director at state-owned PT Taspen, said the company would pay the pensions gradually, and would spend up to Rp 40 billion ($3.91 million) doing so.

On July 19, we will pay Rp 11.1 billion to 7,511 former civil servants," he said.

The Commission for Truth and Friendship was formed in 2004 to determine the facts of the violence and other events that occurred during and after East Timor's 1999 referendum on independence. The agreement to be endorsed was largely taken from its recommendations