RI congratulates E. Timor president Xanana<\/p>\n
Agencies, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda congratulated East
\nTimor's first elected president Xanana Gusmao for his election
\nvictory on Wednesday on behalf of President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri and the Indonesian government.<\/p>\n
\"Mr. Xanana called Mr. Hassan at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, in
\nregard to the elections. During that telephone conversation, Mr.
\nHassan congratulated him on behalf of the Indonesian government
\nand President,\" Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa told
\nThe Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Marty added that Hassan also commended Xanana and the East
\nTimorese people, for the peaceful manner in which the elections
\nwere held.<\/p>\n
Gusmao, a former guerrilla leader, was on Wednesday declared
\nthe landslide winner of East Timor's first presidential election,
\nthe final step in the territory's long and bloody road to
\nnationhood.<\/p>\n
East Timor will formally become the world's newest nation on
\nMay 20 when the United Nations hands over administration to the
\nnew government.<\/p>\n
Hassan said earlier in the day that the Indonesian government
\nwould keep its good relations with East Timor.<\/p>\n
\"We have been trying to build good relations with East Timor
\nand focusing on future orientation,\" Hassan told the press after
\na meeting with legislators here.<\/p>\n
In Canberra Australian Prime Minister John Howard
\ncongratulated Gusmao, on Wednesday for his election win and
\npledged continued Australian aid to the nascent state.<\/p>\n
\"I congratulate Xanana Gusmao on his election, it was not
\nsurprising but it is an important moment and it is an occasion
\nfor Australians to take a degree of pride in the role that we
\nplayed,\" Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.<\/p>\n
Howard said Australia would continue to do what it could to
\nsupport its fledgling neighbor and would continue to provide
\nsoldiers in a support role as the traumatized nation struggled to
\nrebuild from its bloody independence vote in 1999.<\/p>\n
\"We'll continue to help it, we'll continue to have Australian
\nforces there for some time and we'll continue to contribute a lot
\nof aid in other forms,\" Howard said.<\/p>\n
Australia led a UN-backed peacekeeping mission to East Timor
\nafter pro-Jakarta militia went on a rampage in the wake of the
\nterritory's August 1999 vote for independence.<\/p>\n
Japan also welcomed Gusmao's victory and vowed to extend \"as
\nmuch support as possible\" to build what will be the world's
\nnewest nation, Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi said.<\/p>\n
In welcoming his victory, Russia also highlighted Gusmao's
\n\"many years of struggle on behalf of East Timor's national
\nliberation\" and wished him success, the Russian foreign ministry
\nsaid in Moscow.<\/p>\n
The United States had earlier endorsed the election as
\n\"orderly and peaceful\".<\/p>\n
\"We strongly support their transition to independence,\" a
\nsenior State Department official said late Tuesday before
\nGusmao's victory was announced.<\/p>\n
The United Nations Security Council also \"warmly welcomed the
\nsuccessful staging of East Timor's first ever presidential
\nelections\".<\/p>\n
\"These elections represent a historic milestone on East
\nTimor's remarkable journey towards independence,\" council
\npresident Sergei Lavrov said in a statement late Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Gusmao will be sworn in as president by UN Secretary General
\nKofi Annan on May 19, in the final hours before the midnight
\ndeclaration of East Timor's independence.<\/p>\n
At his home, future prime minister Mari Alkatiri, one of the
\nleaders of the ruling party Fretilin, with whom Gusmao has rocky
\nrelations, congratulated him on Wednesday \"from the bottom of my
\nheart\".<\/p>\n
He pledged to do all in his power to ensure smooth future
\nrelations.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Jose Ramos Horta urged Gusmao to overcome the
\nacrimony between him and Fretilin leaders.<\/p>\n
\"I am thrilled and relieved that Xanana got such a huge vote
\nthat gives him democratic legitimacy and a popular mandate,\"
\nHorta told AFP by phone from Portugal.<\/p>\n
\"My only wish now is that (he) walk half-way and embrace the
\nFretilin leadership.\"<\/p>\n
The only sour note came from pro-Jakarta East Timorese militia
\nleader Eurico Guterres, who accused Gusmao of killing pro-
\nintegration East Timorese in 1975, when Indonesia came in months
\nafter Portuguese colonizers withdrew.<\/p>\n
\"I do not regard him as a good leader because he has committed
\nmistakes in the past by murdering many pro-integration East
\nTimorese who were his brothers in 1975,\" Guterres told AFP.<\/p>\n
\"And I think it's also due to the fact that he divorced his
\nEast Timorese wife and married an Aussie woman,\" Guterres added.<\/p>\n
Guterres said he would only congratulate Gusmao \"if he can
\nsuccessfully build East Timor.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ri-congratulates-e-timor-president-xanana-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}