Australia shifts with times on East Timor issue<\/p>\n
By John Mair<\/p>\n
CANBERRA (Reuters): Australia's move to countenance
\nindependence for East Timor is in keeping with its pragmatic
\nstand on the Indonesian-ruled territory, political analysts said.<\/p>\n
Far from an ideological sea-change, Canberra's apparent change
\nof heart on Tuesday merely acknowledged a recent thaw in
\nJakarta's own hardline policy on the restive province, they said.<\/p>\n
"It is a shift, but I think it's just keeping up to date with
\nwhat's already happening," Indonesia expert Harold Crouch said of
\nwhat Canberra called a historic shift in policy.<\/p>\n
The only Western country to recognize Indonesian sovereignty
\nover East Timor, Australia previously only supported autonomy for
\nthe territory, which was integrated into Indonesia two decades
\nago.<\/p>\n
"It would be silly for Australia to be insisting there can be
\nno change... if the Indonesians themselves have backed away from
\nthat position," said Crouch, of the Australian National
\nUniversity.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Tuesday Canberra
\nwould back a political settlement that held out the long-term
\npossibility of self-determination for the East Timorese people.<\/p>\n
The move received a warm welcome from Jose Ramos Horta, the
\nEast Timorese independence leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner.<\/p>\n
But it prompted Jakarta to flatly deny that independence was
\non its agenda. Since the downfall of autocratic President
\nSoeharto last May, Indonesia has said it will consider autonomy
\nonly.<\/p>\n
Downer said Australia's preferred option was still for an
\nautonomous East Timor to remain legally part of Indonesia, but it
\nnow recognized that independence should be a long-term option.<\/p>\n
Analysts said Australia no longer wanted to be seen as the
\nonly Western nation supporting Jakarta's rule over East Timor.<\/p>\n
Richard Robison, Asia Center director at Murdoch University,
\nsaid: "Australia doesn't like being seen as one of the only
\ncountries that supports Indonesia's claim to East Timor."<\/p>\n
Indonesia has been holding talks with East Timor's former
\ncolonial power, Portugal, since last August in an attempt to
\nbring peace to the territory.<\/p>\n
"We recognize that the new situation in Indonesia is changing
\nthe dynamics surrounding the East Timor issue and we've made a
\nsignificant shift in policy," Downer said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
"The demise of the Soeharto regime, the emergence of President
\nHabibie and his much more constructive approach to the issue does
\nprovide a window of opportunity and therefore I think it
\nappropriate that we should change our position," he added.<\/p>\n
East Timor has proved a prickly issue for Australian
\ngovernments since the integration of East Timor into Indonesia in
\n1976, under the rule of Soeharto.<\/p>\n
While the United Nations refused to recognize Indonesian
\nsovereignty, Australia did, and later signed treaties with
\nJakarta to share the oil and gas deposits in the Timor Sea.<\/p>\n
James Dunn, a foreign affairs specialist and former diplomat,
\nsaid the shift was historic against that background.<\/p>\n
Dunn wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald that Australia was
\nbelatedly "accepting the immorality of that integration,
\ninfluenced no doubt by the growing international support for the
\nTimorese and by changing attitudes within Indonesia itself".<\/p>\n
The Australian shift may also be an indication that the talks
\nwith the Timorese and Portugal may soon produce a result, and so
\nAustralia is repositioning in readiness, Crouch said.<\/p>\n
Australian policy -- long reviled by guerrillas in Dili -- is
\nnow aligned with the moderate wing of East Timor's resistance.<\/p>\n
"I would say we are on the same wavelength for the first time
\nin many, many years," Ramos Horta told Reuters.<\/p>\n
The support for a substantial period of autonomy before any
\nmove to self determination is expected to increase the odds of a
\nhighly autonomous East Timor remaining part of Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Downer says this would not only be more politically convenient
\nfor Australia, but would also work against any fragmentation of
\nIndonesia -- a prospect that gives Canberra the shivers.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/australia-shifts-with-times-on-east-timor-issue-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}