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

kecamatan In Indonesia, district or ambiguously subdistrict, is the third-level administrative subdivision, below regency or city. The local term is used in the majority of Indonesian areas. The term is used in provinces in Papua. In the Special Regio ...

''),

Belu Regency Belu Regency is a regency in East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia. Situated on the north side of Timor island, it originally stretched to the south coast, but in December 2012 its southern half was detached to form the new Malaka Regency. It ...

East Nusa Tenggara East Nusa Tenggara (; ) 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 north, with a total land area of 47,238.07 km2. It cons ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

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

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

, 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 ...

. Mota'ain is on the main road between

Kupang Kupang (, ), formerly known as Koepang, is the capital of the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. At the 2020 Indonesian census, 2020 Census, it had a population of 442,758;Badan Pusat Statistik, Jakarta, 2021. the official estimate as o ...

, 290 km to the southwest, and

Dili Dili (Portuguese language, Portuguese and Tetum language, Tetum: ''Díli'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Timor-Leste. It lies on the northern coast of the island of Timor, in a small area of flat land hemmed in by mountai ...

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 8.5 km from north to south and 5 km from east to west, and is in the north of the western half of Timor Island. The town is located at an alt ...

, 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 services for pedestrian and vehicular traffic crossing between East Timor and Indonesia. The new complex, which replaced an 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), often known mononymously as Jokowi, is an Indonesian politician, engineer, and businessman who served as the seventh president of Indonesia from 2014 to 2024. Previously a member of the Indonesian Democratic ...

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 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 it was 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 Mota'ain in Indonesia to Batugade 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