VZCZCXRO0374
RR RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHJS #0055/01 2890932
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 160932Z OCT 07
FM AMCONSUL SURABAYA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0075
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0018
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEHJA/AMEMBASSY JAKARTA 0067
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 0005
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0007
RHHMUNA/USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0016
RUEHDT/AMEMBASSY DILI 0003
RUEHJS/AMCONSUL SURABAYA 0077

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SURABAYA 000055 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, IRN/EAP, DRL/PHD, INL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TT PGOV PHUM KCOR ID PREF
SUBJECT: EAST NUSA TENGGARA: WEST TIMOR'S PERFECT STORM--REFUGEES, 
CLIMATE CHANGE AND SUBSISTENCE FARMING 
 
 
SURABAYA 00000055  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
This message is sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  SUMMARY: Surabaya Pol/Econ Officer and Pol/Econ 
Assistant met with local officials and NGOs involved in the 
resettlement of refugees from Timor Leste in the cities of 
Kupang and Atambua, in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) during a October 
2-5 visit. After our meetings in Atambua near the border with 
Timor Leste, we visited the official border crossing at 
Mota'ain.  Violence associated with Timor Leste's independence 
has abated but continuing food insecurity and local disputes 
related to refugee relocation and aid threaten to become 
flashpoints for renewed conflict in NTT.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) NTT is among the poorest of Indonesia's provinces and 
remains unable to feed its population without outside 
assistance.  The NTT government has requested an additional 
58,600 tons of rice from the central government to augment the 
1,600 tons now on hand in the province. NTT Vice Governor Frans 
Leburaya blamed local preference for rice instead of corn and 
root crops which were staples in the past, according to media 
reports.  NGOs and local officials with whom we met echoed 
Leburaya's assessment.  Rice shortages are endemic to the 
province due to insufficient, suitable land for rice cultivation. 
 
¶3. (SBU) A vicious cycle of poor soil, slash and burn farming 
and an unpredictable rainy season have spelled hard times for 
subsistence farmers.  During our visit to several refugee 
village areas between Kupang and Atambua late in the dry season, 
we saw little activity apart from the smoke rising on distant 
hillsides preparing them for expected November rains. While our 
sources differed on the precise timing, they all agreed that 
farmers were finding it increasingly harder to predict the 
arrival and duration of the rainy season beginning in 2000. 
This challenge to their means of support coincided with the 
massive inflow of East Timorese refugees. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Casava and corn were staples prior to the 
encouragement of water-intensive rice cultivation during the 
Suharto regime.  Over the past six years West Timor has 
experienced particularly unpredictable rains causing farmers to 
misjudge proper planting times and reducing yields.  A 
representative of Pikul (an Indonesian NGO that helps coordinate 
cooperation between large foreign assistance organizations and 
local NGOs) told us that corruption also plays a significant 
role in NTTs annual food crisis).  The Pikul representative said 
that continued access to significant financial resources to 
fight malnutrition paradoxically provides NTT provincial 
officials with a disincentive to find a permanent solution. 
 
Refugee Pressures 
---------------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Over the past seven years an estimated 120-150,000 
people have crossed the border from Timor Leste and settled in 
refugee camps in West Timor.  The type and quality of housing 
provided them is generally limited to rough wooden structures 
roofed with palm leaves or corrugated tin.  The Regent of Belu 
Joachim Lopez told us that refugees in his border Regency were 
given the option of repatriation or relocation to another 
Indonesian province, but most of these "warga baru," or new 
citizens, chose to be resettled in areas close to the Timor 
Leste border.  Although linguistic, religious and even family 
ties helped integrate the refugees into West Timor's landscape, 
scarce farmland and water resources remain a source of friction 
between the refugees and their new neighbors.  Added to this, 
the influx of foreign aid to the refugee communities living side 
by side with similarly poor but non-refugee villages has caused 
resentment and jealousy. 
 
Reconciliation takes Resources 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) In Kupang, we met with Armindo Mariano, the former 
Chairman of East Timor Golkar, and Feliz Amaral, of the East 
Timor Community Council (Makasti).  Both men were born in East 
Timor and opposed independence from Indonesia.  Mariano served 
as part of provincial government while East Timor was part of 
Indonesia.  Both men have immediate family living in Timor Leste 
and described a strong desire to see the new country succeed 
 
SURABAYA 00000055  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
despite their opposition to its independence.  Mariano told us 
that the UN referendum regarding East Timor independence was 
simply inaccurate and that reconciliation between the two 
nations can only occur if Timor Leste and the rest of NTT have 
economic parity.  Feliz Amaral said reconciliation is a 
precondition for economic development on both sides of the 
border, rather than a product of it, as Mariano insists. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Amaral told us that the potential for violence still 
exists between East Timorese in Timor Leste and so-called ex-Tim 
or refugee returnees.  A sign of this latent potential for 
violence was the continued use of  the word "militia" in Timor 
Leste to describe all pro-integrationists whether or not they 
ever took up arms.  This phenomenon is simply an effect of Timor 
Leste's leadership keeping a hold on power, said Amaral. 
Mariano and Amaral expressed the hope that reconciliation would 
make it possible for those refugees who wish to return to Timor 
Leste to do so without fear of being called provocateurs. 
 
A Border that Breaks for Lunch 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Guided by local NGO worker and native of East Timor, 
we traveled to the border at Mota'ain along back roads that 
wound their way through refugee villages within just a mile of 
the geographic border.  The local population, long used to 
freely visiting family and friends before there was an 
international border, continues to cross, albeit out of view of 
the border guards.  Several sources told us that East Timor's 
use of the US dollar has meant high prices relative to Indonesia 
and the nearby footpaths see their share of smuggling. 
 
¶9. (SBU) At the formal border crossing at Mota'ain, we noticed 
people clustered atop a yellow line indicating the border 
itself.  One man standing with them explained that the Timor 
Leste border guards were eating lunch in their guardhouse out of 
sight and this made it easier for him to meet with relatives and 
exchange gifts.  A new Indonesian market complex within one 
hundred yards of the border is clearly intended to take 
advantage of border trade, but has yet to open. Meetings between 
Indonesian and Timor Leste officials and NGOs will reportedly 
take place in late October regarding the issuance of border 
crossing cards to ease travel of both "new citizens" and 
citizens of Timor Leste. 
 
¶10. (U) Embassy Dili cleared this message. 
MCCLELLAND