Some one thousand children from East Timor who were snatched from their families more than ten years ago are being detained by force at national Islamic schools in western Java and compelled to convert to Islam.

The Church in Indonesia and Catholic humanitarian workers told Vatican-based Fides news agency on Feb. 7 that the children are kept at Muslim-run schools and are not allowed to return to their families.

During the war of independence in 1999, some 250,000 refugees from East Timor crossed the border into West Timor to escape the violence of pro-Indonesia militias.

Among these refugees were 4,000 children, many of whom could not be fed by their families and were turned over to the military and to humanitarian organizations. As a result, more than one thousand of them never returned to their homes and are currently held as prisoners in Islamic boarding schools in Java.

Representatives of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and various NGOs in Indonesia have tried to repatriate the children without success. Meanwhile, many of their parents are not allowed access to see them.

The secretary of the Indonesian Bishops' Committee on Inter-Religious Dialogue, Father Benny Susetyo, said, "It is urgent that the use of religion in politics be limited. The Western Java zone is an example: Muslim groups want to impose rules based on Sharia law."

He said the main problem in East Timor is "excessive bureaucracy and corruption: two issues that influence the detaining of these children.

"This is a sad case of obvious abuse," he added.

The bishops' Committee on Inter-Religious dialogue sought a solution from the government, Muslim organizations and the United Nations, but "cases such as these show how the relationship between politics and religion has a grave impact on the freedoms of citizens, especially minorities," Fr. Susetyo said.