On East Timor issue<\/p>\n
I thank John Hargreaves for his comments East Timor issue
\npublished in The Jakarta Post May 2 on my article (UN statement
\ngood deal for RI, April 25). He is correct in asserting that the
\nUN Commission on Human Rights is not the forum to settle the East
\nTimor question.<\/p>\n
Mr. Hargreaves suggests that the talks to settle the political
\nstatus of East Timor include the participation of East Timorese.
\nThis is not a new idea.<\/p>\n
I remind him, first of all, that it is internationally
\naccepted that the East Timor issue is strictly a problem between
\nIndonesia and Portugal, and as such the attempt to solve it
\ninvolve only these two parties, namely the foreign ministers (and
\nsenior officials) of the governments of Indonesia and Portugal,
\nwhich are mediated by the UN secretary-general.<\/p>\n
There was actually an attempt to include East Timorese
\n\"representatives\" in the negotiation before it started in 1983,
\nbut both governments agreed to drop this idea because they
\nrealized it was a non-starter, for they could not agree on who
\nthese \"representatives\" would be.<\/p>\n
The present negotiating arrangement, which is internationally
\nendorsed, has of course severely irritated self-important
\npersonalities, such as Jose Ramos-Horta, who insist on taking
\npart in it. However, Indonesian East Timorese have made it clear
\nthat they are not interested in negotiating with Portugal, for
\ndecolonization has been completed and diplomatic negotiation is
\nnow the business of Jakarta. There is no prospect whatsoever that
\nIndonesian East Timorese would ever be interested in negotiating
\nthe political status of East Timor with Jose Ramos-Horta, whose
\npolitical and moral credibility was forever shattered in the eyes
\nof integrationists.<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government's policy toward anti-integrationists
\nis not as rigid as Mr. Hargreaves suggests. The government has
\nbeen firm, and it has to be, on those who terrorize and commit
\nviolence and destroy public property, but the government has also
\ngiven amnesty to separatists on many occasions.<\/p>\n
More significantly, Indonesian East Timorese have been willing
\nto reconcile with East Timorese of different political
\npersuasions. Ambassador Lopes Da Cruz, with the full support of
\nthe government, started this reconciliation process with Dr.
\nAbilio Araujo in 1993 in London.<\/p>\n
The UN secretary-general then picked up the idea to create the
\nAll Inclusive Intra East Timorese Dialog (AIETD), which includes
\nJose Ramos-Horta and some members of his group. The Indonesian
\nEast Timorese see the AIETD as a continuation of the
\nreconciliation process, and also as a confidence-building measure
\nto help improve the atmosphere for the tripartite talks. At no
\ntime, however, is the AIETD intended to be a forum for the East
\nTimorese to negotiate the political status of East Timor.<\/p>\n
On human rights, I fully agree with Mr. Hargreaves on the
\nimportance of this issue, and of the need to address it in a
\nnonpolitical and nonpropagandistic way.<\/p>\n
But I also think that in East Timor, human rights is not the
\ncause of the problem, but rather the symptom of a conflict which
\nexploded 22 years ago, the residue of which continues to linger
\ntoday.<\/p>\n
We are striving to heal this conflict, but on this point I
\nthink Mr. Hargreaves is being too hard on Indonesia and too soft
\non Portugal. To many Indonesians, and especially to East
\nTimorese, Portugal today is behaving no different than its
\npredecessors did 23 years ago, by pursuing a divisive policy
\ntoward the East Timorese, by choosing sides, and encouraging
\nconflict rather soothing it.<\/p>\n
Portugal's support for the Congress of Resistance, held in
\nLisbon last April, attests to this. Ultimately, the key to
\nimproving human rights does not lie in, as Mr. Hargreaves
\nsuggest, \"constant and vigorous monitoring by non-governmental
\nhuman rights organizations\", but in the political will of
\nPortugal and the separatist groups within and outside East Timor
\nto de-escalate conflict, reverse radicalization and halt
\nmilitancy -- all of which are on the rise. Failure to do this
\nwould only imperil human rights in East Timor.<\/p>\n
DINO PATTI DJALAL<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/on-east-timor-issue-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }