Students favor E. Timor referendum: Poll<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A poll involving 900 students and 100 lecturers
\nin five large cities reveals that 66.5 percent believe that the
\nbest way to settle East Timor's problems is to let the East
\nTimorese decide their own fate.<\/p>\n
Asked whether a referendum was the best way for the East Timor
\nproblem to be solved, 48.5 percent said \"yes\", 32.2 percent
\nanswered \"no\" and 19.3 percent did not answer.<\/p>\n
Of those who said a referendum would be the best option, 48.6
\npercent said it would be \"in line with democratic principals.\"<\/p>\n
A non-governmental group focused on East Timor, Solidamor,
\nconducted the poll, the results of which were announced on Friday
\nby coordinator Bonar Tigor Naipospos and polling team head Rahadi
\nT. Wiratama.<\/p>\n
The poll was held from Oct. 12 to Nov. 22 in Jakarta, Bandung,
\nSemarang, Yogyakarta and Surabaya. Four hundred and eighty
\nrespondents were from Jakarta, 200 from Surabaya, 100 from
\nSemarang, 120 from Bandung and 100 from Yogyakarta. Respondents
\nwere in at least their second year. Five campuses in each city
\nwere polled.<\/p>\n
The respondents were aged 17 to 24, divided equally between
\nmen and women. Of the students, 55.6 percent were taking humanity
\nstudies because these departments were where most students are
\nconcentrated. Solidamor claims the margin of error is about 3
\npercent. Researchers said they distributed questionnaires by
\nrandom sampling while trying to avoid having respondents who were
\nmore likely to care or be knowledgeable about the issue.<\/p>\n
\"We tried to avoid demonstrations and places where activists
\nhang out as much as possible,\" Bonar said.<\/p>\n
He said the poll was the first part of a planned series, which
\nwould be followed by a poll on professionals, military members
\nincluding those who served in East Timor, and East Timorese in
\nall 13 regencies.<\/p>\n
Bonar said the poll was conducted \"to give a chance to the
\nIndonesian public to voice what they know about East Timor\" given
\nthe \"one-sided information on the 27th province\".<\/p>\n
Among 12 questions to respondents was one asking what source
\nof information they were most likely to believe. Another asked
\nwhether they believed the government's version of the East Timor
\nissue. Sixty-seven percent said they believed information
\ndisseminated by parties other than the government; 58.5 percent
\nsaid they disbelieved the government's version of the issue.<\/p>\n
On what were the main sociopolitical problems in the province,
\n40 percent ticked the answer \"human rights abuses.\"<\/p>\n
On who would be the most qualified to represent the East
\nTimorese in negotiations on East Timor, 43.8 percent chose Bishop
\nCarlos Ximenes Belo while 15.2 percent chose Jose Alexandre
\n\"Xanana\" Gusmao. (anr)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/students-favor-e-timor-referendum-poll-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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