Indonesia slams Portugal's hypocrisy<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia yesterday fired a broadside at
\nPortugal saying a country known for its colonial past should not
\npretend to be a champion of human rights.<\/p>\n
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas, when asked by
\njournalists, lambasted comments by Portuguese President Jorge
\nSampaio who had criticized Jakarta's human rights record and
\npolicy in East Timor.<\/p>\n
During a televised debate after the presentation of the Nobel
\nPeace prize in Oslo, to Dili Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo
\nand East Timor separatist leader Jose Ramos Horta, Sampaio
\nattacked Jakarta for denying East Timor the right to self-
\ndetermination.<\/p>\n
Alatas questioned how such a statement could be made by the
\npresident of a country notorious for being one of the world's
\nworst colonialists.<\/p>\n
\"With all my respect to the Portuguese President, I found it
\nquite funny seeing him express a position as if Portugal was a
\nchampion of human rights and self-determination. My question is,
\nwere those things applied in Angola? I don't think so. In
\nMozambique? Neither there too,\" remarked Alatas.<\/p>\n
Alatas refuted Sampaio's accusation that Jakarta has failed to
\nimplement a United Nations decision to place a representative of
\nthe UN human rights commission in East Timor.<\/p>\n
Sampaio was wrong, no such decision had ever been taken, said
\nthe minister, who was speaking on the sidelines of the on-going
\nministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference
\n(OIC).<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the OIC conference political affairs committee
\nexpressed support for Indonesia's position on East Timor.<\/p>\n
Near the end of the committee meeting, Indonesia's Ambassador
\nWiryono Sastrohandoyo took the floor to explain the situation in
\nEast Timor.<\/p>\n
\"I would like now to appeal to our friends in the OIC to show
\nunderstanding and support for the Indonesian position...This
\ncould be reflected in the final documents,\" he told the
\ncommittee.<\/p>\n
Egyptian assistant foreign minister Sayed Kassem El-Masry told
\nThe Jakarta Post after the meeting that there had been
\nspontaneous support from the floor, and the committee agreed to
\nforward a statement to be included in tomorrow's final
\ncommunique.<\/p>\n
A Pakistani delegate, Shah M. Jamal, said more then 20
\ncountries took to the floor in support of Indonesia's position.
\nThey included Malaysia, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya, Egypt and
\nTunisia.<\/p>\n
\"It would form part of the final communique to be issued by
\nthe conference. It would clearly support the efforts taken by the
\nIndonesian government,\" said Jamal who is director of OIC at the
\nforeign ministry in Pakistan.<\/p>\n
The move came as a surprise as Alatas last week had said
\nIndonesia would not be seeking a statement of support from the
\nOIC over the East Timor issue.<\/p>\n
Belo<\/p>\n
Meanwhile Alatas and Coordinating Minister for Political
\nAffairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman expressed satisfaction at
\nBelo's press conference in Oslo.<\/p>\n
Soesilo commended Belo for saying the Nobel prize was also for
\nall Indonesian people and because he had refused to hold a joint
\npress conference with Horta.<\/p>\n
Soesilo said President Soeharto had given him permission to
\nmeet with Belo upon his return.<\/p>\n
\"Yo tampanen wae (yes, just receive him),\" Soesilo said in
\nJavanese, referring to Soeharto's comments.<\/p>\n
He said Jakarta appreciated Belo's comments which showed that
\nBelo was a person aware of his position as leader of the Catholic
\ncommunity in East Timor, which is inseparable to the country as a
\nwhole.<\/p>\n
In Oslo, the Indonesian embassy yesterday filed a complaint to
\nthe Norwegian police for failing to inform them they had
\ndetained two Indonesians who had gone to the Norwegian capital to
\nprotest against Ramos Horta.<\/p>\n
First Secretary of the Indonesian Embassy, Andhika Bambang
\nSupeno said the Norwegian police had apologized.<\/p>\n
The two men -- Joao Angelo D'sausa Mota, in his 40s, and
\nOctavio Augusto De Jesus Osorio Soares, in 20s -- are of East
\nTimorese origin and reside in Yogyakarta. They told embassy
\nofficials that they had anti-Horta pamphlets.<\/p>\n
Police who held them for six hours, said there was some
\nconfusion about their names, according to Andhika.<\/p>\n
Norwegian press reports had earlier said the two men were
\nIndonesian intelligence officers sent to disrupt the Nobel prize
\ngiving ceremony. (mds\/lem)<\/p>",
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