Abilio apologizes to nation
JAKARTA (JP): East Timor Governor Abilio Jose Osorio Soares yesterday apologized to the nation for the behavior of a group of East Timorese who staged a protest at the American embassy just as Indonesia was to host a major international event last week.
"On behalf of the people of East Timor, I apologize to the nation, and to President Soeharto, because their behavior has tainted the nation," Abilio told reporters after meeting with the head of state at the State Palace.
"At a time when we are hosting an international event, they should have upheld the good name of Indonesia," he said in reference to last week's meeting of 18 leaders of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
Twenty-nine East Timorese scaled the American embassy fence on Nov. 12 and vowed to stage a sit-in until their demands were met.
One of them fell ill on Sunday and was later admitted to a hospital.
Portugal
The other 28 were still at the embassy's parking lot as of yesterday though a solution seemed imminent. The students have announced that they want to go to Portugal, which ruled East Timor for over four centuries until 1975.
The group's spokesman said they were going to Portugal not as asylum seekers but as Portuguese citizens. Portugal had offered them asylum earlier. It was not immediately clear, however, how and when they will leave for Portugal.
Portuguese interests in Indonesia are looked after by the Netherlands embassy in the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The U.S. embassy yesterday was preparing the travel documents for the protesters with the local office of the International Red Cross.
On a separate occasion, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas yesterday said the government had done all it could in trying to resolve the embassy occupation.
"It is not our problem. They're in American territory," Alatas said after reporting to President Soeharto, also at the State Palace. "We've given our word that they will not be touched if they leave. If they want to leave the country, we won't stop them. What else can we do?"
He said the protesters were making unrealistic demands, such as the release of Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao who is serving a 17-year jail term for heading an armed rebellion in East Timor.
Lowest level
Asked whether the government was communicating with the protesters, he said yes, "at the very lowest level".
The protesters demanded to see either U.S. President Bill Clinton or Secretary of State Warren Christopher, both in town last week for the APEC meeting. Later, they wanted to see Alatas.
"What's the purpose of asking to speak with a foreign minister? They're not that important. They've had dialog with Lopez da Cruz, and as if that wasn't enough, they've had dialog with members of the National Commission on Human Rights," Alatas said. Lopez is a respected senior East Timor politician who has been appointed as ambassador-at-large on East Timor issues.
Abilio said most of the protesters are "tramps", perhaps two or three are students but they never attended classes, he said.
"Most of them are laborers who didn't make it at school, got frustrated and then escaped to the cheap world of politics."
The few students who took part in the demonstration are acting irresponsibly because they have been given an opportunity to study but instead turned their back on the nation, he added.
Alatas said these youths had been treated well, given scholarships and various other facilities. "I don't understand why they're doing this."
Journalists
Both Abilio and Alatas joined in the growing chorus of criticism of foreign journalists for provoking the minority of those East Timorese who oppose their integration with Indonesia, either in Jakarta or in Dili
"I don't mean to accuse all foreign journalists, but some of have incited the East Timorese people to act out," Alatas said.
They, he added, were conducting activities totally unconnected to journalism by twisting the facts and further inflaming the situation in East Timor.
About 30 journalists who were covering the APEC meeting extended their stay to visit East Timor last week, during which they saw three days of violence in Dili and an anti-government demonstration at the city's Roman Catholic cathedral.
The East Timor military has deported four journalists, one of them found to be carrying banners which were used by the demonstrators. The other three had sneaked into East Timor without notifying the authorities in Jakarta.
Abilio said one of the journalists helped bring in the banners into the cathedral and then handed them over to the protesters.
He said the authorities are now investigating the source of the banners, whether they were made locally in East Timor or had been brought in by the journalists. (emb/mas)