Indonesian Citizens Confirmed There Is No Rat Route To Timor Leste

Road rat illustration (Ministry of PUPR)

JAKARTA - Indonesian citizens are certain that no one uses the rat route to enter the Timor Leste area.

"If our people are aware of all the average. They go through official crossings. However, if it's a rat route, never," said Head of the National Cross-Border Post (PLBN) Administrator Wini Don Gaspar when met at PLBN Wini, East Nusa Tenggara, Saturday morning.

Don assessed that the Indonesian people, especially those living in the border areas of Wini and Timor Leste, already understand that to make crossings abroad must use a passport.

The people in the border area are indigenous people who are united with strong traditions and have strong emotional ties as a unit of indigenous peoples. Thus, the entry and exit activities of PLBN Wini and Timor Leste are very high.

Not only that, Indonesian immigration also still applies a cross-border pass (PLB) or travel document that functions as a passport (and as well as visa) for people living in the land border area of Indonesia and Timor Leste.

However, PLB is no longer used by people living in Oecusse, an enclave area (bag) of Timor Leste which is located within the territory of Indonesia in West Timor.

In fact, people in Oecusse are very dependent on Indonesia. However, they do not have a PLB, which PLB also does not apply in Timor Leste.

To take care of passports and PLB, said Don, they must go to Dili. The distance traveled is quite far, about 251 kilometers or takes up to more than 6 hours of land travel.

Don said that the making of passports in Timor Leste took a long time because the government printed the Timor Leste passport book in Finland. Timor Leste Passports are also intended for officials and urgent matters.

According to him, ordinary people can no longer make passports. Meanwhile, people who live in Oecusse must live.

This has resulted in many Oecusse people using the rat route to fulfill their lives.

Don said that the rat lane can be formed anywhere, such as Padang, forest, to the edge of the river.

"They pass through the PLB, there must be official documents. If they don't have a passport, at least PLB. However, because they don't have a PLB, they have to go through the rat lane. That's one of the reasons," he said.

The rise of the use of rat lanes adds to the task for the Indonesian government. Instead, he hopes that the existence of PLBN can make neighboring countries pass through official channels with complete documents.

"It seems that the government next door also does not facilitate the people to go to Indonesia because of their daily needs, eating and drinking must go through the rat route," concluded Don.