ASEAN membership 'vital to E. Timor future'<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (AFP): Association of Southeast Asian Nations
\n(ASEAN) membership is vital for the future security of East
\nTimor, Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta said here on Monday.<\/p>\n
Horta, foreign minister in the East Timor transitional
\ncabinet, said he had already gained the support of most ASEAN
\nnations, including Singapore.<\/p>\n
\"Membership in ASEAN will provide us with a sort of security
\numbrella,\" he said, adding that the territory \"cannot afford and
\nshould not spend too much money on an army.\"<\/p>\n
\"It (East Timor) would have an added voice to its concerns,
\nits agenda,\" he said.<\/p>\n
East Timor has been under United Nations administration since
\nNovember last year, after a wave of terror blamed on militias
\ntrained by the Indonesian army after the territory's independence
\nvote on Aug. 30, 1999.<\/p>\n
Horta said that of the 10 ASEAN members, visits had been made
\nto Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and
\nThailand to drum up support for ASEAN membership and \"all of them
\nhave said they welcome East Timor.\"<\/p>\n
The other ASEAN members are Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and
\nBrunei.<\/p>\n
Reports that Singapore objected to East Timor's entry were
\ninaccurate, Horta said. After last month's ASEAN summit,
\nIndonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid launched a tirade against
\nSingapore, which included the accusation that the island state
\nhad barred the way for East Timor to join the regional grouping.<\/p>\n
Singapore \"are in principle very receptive to East Timor
\njoining. The only question is the timing,\" Horta said here after
\ndelivering a speech on East Timor to the Institute of Southeast
\nAsian studies.<\/p>\n
East Timor is also keen to join the proposed West Pacific
\nForum (WPF) being considered by Indonesia and Australia, but not
\nbe at the expense of its efforts to gain ASEAN membership, Horta
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"We will join as long as that does not mean exclusion from
\nASEAN,\" he said, adding that he had been told by some ASEAN
\ncountries, which he did not identify, that membership in the
\nforum would exclude East Timor from ASEAN.<\/p>\n
\"We still think ASEAN is irreplaceable,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The WPF, first mooted by Wahid in the aftermath of the East
\nTimor crisis, will also include Papua New Guinea and the
\nPhilippines.<\/p>\n
Horta also praised U.S. President-elect George W. Bush's
\nnomination of Condoleezza Rice as his National Security Adviser
\nand Colin Powell as Secretary of State.<\/p>\n
\"I was so pleased and touched by President-elect Bush's
\nannouncement of the appointment of the new secretary of state and
\nnational security adviser,\" he said, speaking in Singapore
\n\"There could be no more sensitive, reliable people at the helm of
\nU.S. foreign policy because of their particular background,\" he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
\"I believe we will also have a very sensitive engagement by
\nthe U.S. at least in regard to East Timor, if not in regard to
\nthe rest of the world.\"<\/p>\n
The U.S. has kept a watchful eye on East Timor since it was
\nravaged by pro-Jakarta militias after last year's vote for
\nindependence.<\/p>\n
The U.S. ambassador to Jakarta Robert Gelbard recently warned
\nIndonesia it risked losing international support if it failed to
\ndisband militias still operating from West Timor.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/asean-membership-vital-to-e-timor-future-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}