Mota'ain, also spelled Motain, Mota'in or Mota Ain, is a hamlet in the Silawan village ('' desa''), East Tasifeto district (''

kecamatan The term ''district'', in the context of Indonesia, refers to the third-level administrative subdivision, below regency or city. The local term ' is used in the majority of Indonesian areas, except in Papua, West Papua, and the Special Region of ...

''),

Belu Regency Belu Regency is a regency in East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia. Established on 20 December 1958, Belu Regency has its seat (capital) in the large town of Atambua. In December 2012 a separate Regency - Malaka Regency - was created from t ...

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara ( id, Nusa Tenggara Timur – NTT; pt, Sonda Oriental) is the southernmost province of Indonesia. It comprises the eastern portion of the Lesser Sunda Islands, facing the Indian Ocean in the south and the Flores Sea in the nor ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. A major border crossing checkpoint with customs, immigration and quarantine services between Indonesia and

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-weste ...

, called the Mota'ain Border Crossing Checkpoint, is located in the village. The corresponding checkpoint on the East Timor side is

Batugade Batugade is a suco (village) located in Balibó Subdistrict, Bobonaro Municipality of East Timor. The administrative seat of the suco is the village of Batugade. Batugade is located on the main road between Dili and Kupang, the capital of Nusa Te ...

. Mota'ain is on main road between

Kupang Kupang ( id, Kota Kupang, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 C ensus, it had a population of 442,758; the official estimate as at mid 2021 was 455,850. It is the largest ci ...

, 290 km to the southwest, and

Dili Dili (Portuguese/Tetum: ''Díli'') is the capital, largest city of East Timor and the second largest city in Timor islands after Kupang (Indonesia). It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in ...

which is 113 km to the east. The nearest major city is

Atambua Atambua is the regency seat of Belu Regency, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The town stretches as far as 8.5 km from north to south and 5 km from east to west, and is located in the north of the western half of Timor Island. The town is ...

, the capital of Belu Regency. The port of Atapupu is located 5 km to the west.

Border Crossing

The Mota'ain Border Crossing Checkpoint (Indonesian: ''Pos Lintas Batas Negara'') is a modern complex providing customs, immigration and quarantine service for pedestrian and vehicular traffic crossing between East Timor and Indonesia. The new complex, which replaced the earlier smaller facility which was set up when East Timor separated from Indonesia, was officially opened by Indonesian president

Joko Widodo Joko Widodo (; born 21 June 1961), popularly known as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the 7th and current president of Indonesia. Elected in July 2014, he was the first Indonesian president not to come from an elite ...

on 28 December 2016. Construction of the new checkpoint complex, which is located on a site, began in 2015 and cost 82 billion rupiah.

Shooting Incident of 1999

On 10 October 1999,

International Force East Timor The International Force East Timor (INTERFET) was a multinational non-United Nations peacemaking task force, organised and led by Australia in accordance with United Nations resolutions to address the humanitarian and security crisis that took ...

(INTERFET) troops - a platoon from 2 RAR - patrolling along the main road were shot at as they were approaching the border bridge at Mota'ain while within East Timor territory. Reports stated that the shots were fired by either

pro-Indonesian militia During the East Timor independence referendum in 1999, pro-Indonesia militias refers to paramilitary militias in East Timor that were loyal to the Indonesian government. They operated during the final years of the Indonesian occupation of East T ...

or the Indonesian police. The INTERFET troops returned fire in the ensuing clash. Reports stated that in a meeting between the Indonesian army and INTERFET following the incident established that the INTERFET troops were still about 100 metres inside East Timor territory when they were fired upon.

Gallery

File:Indo-timor border.jpg, View of the old Mota'ain Border Crossing Checkpoint, from East Timor territory File:Indonesia-Timor Leste border.jpg, Arch of the old Mota'ain checkpoint, looking towards East Timor File:Indo-timor border mark.jpg, Plaque on one of the pair of border markers on each side of the river marking the East Timor-Indonesia boundary at Mota'ain/Batugade File:Mota'ain Bridge (26670714967).jpg, Bridge connecting the Indonesian village of Motaain to Mota'ain, in East Timor

References

External links

* {{coord, 8, 57, 33, S, 124, 57, 03, E, region:TL-BO_type:city_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Populated places in East Nusa Tenggara East Timor–Indonesia border crossings