ABRI bows to people's will on E. Timor

ABRI bows to people's will on E. Timor

JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces (ABRI) Commander Gen. Wiranto vowed
on Thursday the military would support the people if they wanted
East Timor to be separated from Indonesia.

Wiranto, who is also the minister of defense, however, warned
the nation not to forget the sacrifices of the country, and of
the soldiers and civilians who lost their lives to defend the
territory's integration into Indonesia.

The general said the military would carry out the mandate of
the state's highest institution, the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR), should it decide to let East Timor leave
Indonesia.

While emphasizing the government's decision to include East
Timor into Indonesia in 1976 was not wrong, he expressed his hope
that people would not blame each other should Indonesia finally
abandon East Timor.

"The decision to grant independence will of course be decided
through an MPR decree, and therefore ABRI will secure the
decision, there is no problem at all," the general said after
meeting with President B.J. Habibie at Merdeka Palace.

The general spoke of how the country had spent a huge amount
of money and resources to develop the tiny province, and many
people, including the East Timorese themselves, had done a great
deal for the province's development.

"Let us not allow their sacrifice to become worthless,"
Wiranto said.

After a heated cabinet meeting on Wednesday, President Habibie
proposed to the Assembly to drop East Timor as its 27th province
if East Timorese rejected his proposal for special autonomy for
the province. The separation process, should it be decided on, is
expected to start in July next year.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer on Thursday
warmly welcomed Indonesia's willingness to take into account the
wishes of the East Timorese.

"As was made clear in the Prime Minister John Howard's recent
letter to President Habibie, Australia believes this is the key
to a resolution of the East Timor issue," Downer said in a
statement.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas acknowledged that the
Australian government's stance had been one of the factors which
influenced Habibie's decision.

The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who is
mediating the ongoing negotiations between Indonesia and
Portugal, welcomed Jakarta's decision.

"The Secretary-General underlined the need for maintaining
peace and avoiding unnecessary violence and bloodshed in East
Timor. He urged all parties concerned to show maximum restraint
and political wisdom in dealing with this important period of
transition," the UN Information Center (UNIC) said in a statement
on Thursday.

The United States on Wednesday called Indonesia's new
willingness to grant autonomy to East Timor "a positive
development," saying it seemed to give local people a say in
their fate.

"The new Indonesian policy appears to explicitly give the
people of East Timor a direct role in deciding East Timor's
future. As such it is a positive development," it said in a
statement.

East Timor Governor Abilio Osorio Soares separately said
special autonomy was "the best and the only solution" for the
province.

"We must work hard to implement the wide-ranging autonomy
under Indonesia," he said.

"We hope that this is not only a political threat, and not a
repetition of what Portugal did 23 years ago which left us in
chaos," said Florentino Sarmento, a non-governmental organization
activist.

Separately, pro-independence figure Manuel Viegas Carrascalao
said: "This is an unfriendly and unsympathetic attitude from
Indonesia, it is better to hold a referendum so people can decide
whether they want independence or integration."

Meanwhile, Alatas said the separation of East Timor from
Indonesia would not trigger disintegration in the country, saying
the region had a different history from the other 26 provinces.

"The other regions were once part of the Dutch colony and also
part of the struggle for Indonesian independence in 1945," he
said.

Minister of Justice Muladi said rebel leader Jose Alexandre
Xanana Gusmao would soon be removed to a special prison.

"We'll keep him there while waiting for the settlement as
promised by President Habibie," he said on the sidelines of a
seminar on bankruptcy law. (prb/01/33/har/44/rei)