Emergency call for East Timor rejected<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A plenary Cabinet meeting turned down on Monday
\nthe proposal of Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Wiranto to
\ndeclare a state of emergency in East Timor, Minister of
\nInformation Muhammad Yunus said.<\/p>\n
In a media briefing which followed the meeting on East Timor,
\nYunus confirmed that Wiranto proposed to put the strife-torn
\nterritory under military emergency status to allow it to take
\nnecessary measures to end rampant violence.<\/p>\n
He said the Cabinet warned the plan would contravene the May 5
\nagreement between Indonesia, Portugal and the United Nations
\nwhich ruled the Indonesian police were in charge of maintaining
\npublic order and security before and during the self-
\ndetermination process.<\/p>\n
\"It (the proposal) was discussed but it contained many
\nimplications, because... actually there is an agreement that TNI
\npersonnel should be withdrawn (from East Timor),\" Yunus said.<\/p>\n
Speaking before the meeting at Bina Graha presidential office,
\nWiranto, who is also minister of defense and security, said he
\nwould recommend the Cabinet consider the emergency status to
\nempower the military in its effort to restore calm in the
\nterritory.<\/p>\n
\"I will submit a proposal to authorize the security forces to
\nact without any hesitation and establish legal certainty,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He said declaring a state of emergency was important in
\nrestoring security before entering \"phase three\", in which the
\nPeople's Consultative Assembly (MPR) would decide on endorsing
\nEast Timor's separation from Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Wiranto also disclosed his plan to send six battalions of Army
\nreinforcements, with three battalions already having arrived in
\nEast Timor. A battalion consists of between 700 and 1,000 troops.<\/p>\n
\"In the short term, we will bring in more forces. Then we are
\ngoing to evaluate the status of this area, whether it will
\ncontinue to be under civilian order or whether there is a need
\nfor stricter authority to take action against anyone bearing arms
\nand shooting people at will.\"<\/p>\n
National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi, who also attended the
\nmeeting, acknowledged the situation in East Timor was out of
\ncontrol and the difficulty in restoring order. He said police
\nneeded the presence of more military troops.<\/p>\n
\"Even the local government no longer functions. The only thing
\nwe can hope for is that everyone will exercise restraint.\"<\/p>\n
Reports say that desperate pro-Jakarta militiamen backed by
\ntroops are rioting and attacking thousands of refugees.<\/p>\n
Roesmanhadi said no less than 16,000 people were sheltered at
\nthe provincial police headquarters. He added that police planned
\nto transport the people to refugee centers on the territory's
\nborder with East Nusa Tenggara.<\/p>\n
\"The latest developments are not calm. It is still out of
\ncontrol,\" Roesmanhadi said.<\/p>\n
Habibie has been widely criticized since Saturday for his
\ndecision last year to hold the Aug. 30 ballot. The United Nations
\nannounced on Saturday morning an overwhelming 78 percent vote in
\nfavor of independence.<\/p>\n
Responsibility<\/p>\n
Before the Cabinet meeting, the President met with leaders of
\nthe House of Representatives to explain the vote's outcome, its
\nimplications and the violent aftermath.<\/p>\n
\"I take full responsibility for whatever happens in East
\nTimor,\" he later told a brief joint media briefing with House
\nSpeaker Harmoko.<\/p>\n
He said the MPR would still have to approve the separation
\nwhen it convened in November. Until then, East Timor remained
\nunder Indonesia's jurisdiction and was therefore the
\nresponsibility of his government, he added.<\/p>\n
Habibie disclosed that earlier in the day he held a lengthy
\nphone conversation with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the
\nsituation in East Timor.<\/p>\n
Harmoko neither endorsed nor rejected Habibie's moves on East
\nTimor, saying that they both agreed in the meeting that the
\nPresident would account for his actions before the MPR.<\/p>\n
East Timor's \"integration\" with Indonesia in 1976 was endorsed
\nby the MPR through a 1978 decree.<\/p>\n
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas also said the agreement
\nwith the United Nations required that East Timor's separation
\nfirst be endorsed by the MPR.<\/p>\n
\"It is not the government who decides. It (the separation)
\nmust be confirmed first by the MPR,\" he said after accompanying
\nHabibie at the meeting.<\/p>\n
Results of the vote did not automatically mean independence
\nfor East Timor, he said. \"Indonesia never promised, nor is it in
\nany position to promise, independence. That's neither our
\nauthority nor our obligation.\"<\/p>\n
The MPR could theoretically reject the President's decision on
\nEast Timor, he added.<\/p>\n
\"It could happen,\" he said. However, he added that he expected
\nthe MPR to endorse the government's decision on East Timor since
\nthe ballot was organized by the United Nations and observed by
\nthe international community.<\/p>\n
On the fate of East Timorese who fought and voted for
\nintegration, Alatas pledged the government would not abandon
\nthem.<\/p>\n
He said the government would accommodate them if they wished
\nto keep Indonesian citizenship. If they wished to become East
\nTimorese, the government would ensure their safety, with the help
\nof the United Nations, he said.<\/p>\n
\"It never crossed our minds that we would leave behind the
\n90,000 or so East Timorese who supported integration. We're not
\nlike the Portuguese,\" he said, alluding to the Portuguese
\ncolonial administration's departure from East Timor in 1975 and
\nthe bloody civil war which ensued.<\/p>\n
Jakarta-appointed East Timor Governor Jose Abilio Soares
\nreiterated his rejection of the vote results on Monday, claiming
\nthat it was engineered by the United Nations Mission in East
\nTimor (UNAMET) and the proindependence forces, Antara reported.<\/p>\n
He said it provoked anger among East Timorese who expressed
\ntheir outrage through violence.<\/p>\n
He stressed that East Timor remained under Indonesian rule
\nuntil the result was accepted by the MPR.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Australian and American embassies were the
\ntargets of demonstrations over East Timor on Monday.<\/p>\n
Some 200 people from two separate groups -- the Jakarta
\nCommunication Forum and the People's Front of Red and White
\nDefenders -- converged outside the Australian embassy on Jl.
\nRasuna Said, South Jakarta, to protest the burning of the
\nIndonesian flag outside the Indonesian consulate in Melbourne
\nlast week. They demanded that Canberra apologize for the
\nincident.<\/p>\n
About 50 people demonstrated outside the U.S. embassy on Jl.
\nMerdeka Selatan, blaming the U.S. government for the violence in
\nEast Timor. (prb\/05\/emb)<\/p>",
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