Alatas calls referendum in E. Timor 'unacceptable'

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas warned yesterday that a referendum on East Timor's status, as demanded by some East Timorese, would likely lead to clashes between supporters and opponents of integration with Indonesia.

Alatas also dismissed the notion that a referendum would solve the East Timor problem.

"A referendum is something that we think is inappropriate and is unacceptable to the majority of the East Timorese people because they feel that they have already decided (the issue) several years ago.

"A referendum, by the way, would also be something fraught with all kinds of risks," he told reporters in his office.

A group of about 20 young East Timorese staged a demonstration at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, denouncing calls for reform and stating their support for East Timor to remain a part of Indonesia.

On Friday, some 1,000 East Timorese students from various cities in Java converged on the ministry to call for a referendum on the status of the former Portuguese colony.

The government has insisted that the question of East Timor's status was settled when a group of East Timorese leaders, representing the majority of the population, declared their intention to join the republic in 1976.

Alatas said that those calling for a referendum were "the very parties which did not even want anything close to a referendum or a democratically achieved solution."

He was apparently referring to Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ramos Horta and the Fretilin movement which has been fighting for an independent East Timor.

"They preferred to solve the East Timor issue through force of arms when political parties in East Timor declared for integration. Now, they are turning around and becoming defenders of a referendum."

Alatas underscored President B.J. Habibie's offer to grant a special status for East Timor to break the current impasse in negotiations with Portugal on the status of the territory.

"I hope the other side will not just react in a negative way before even knowing what the context is," he said. "We need the political will to try to move (forward) to find a solution acceptable to both sides."

Indonesia and Portugal have been conducting negotiations on East Timor under the auspices of the UN secretary-general.

A group of activists calling themselves the Committee for Solidarity for a Peaceful Solution to East Timor met with legislators from the Armed Forces yesterday to call on the government to allow a referendum to take place in East Timor to resolve the problem once and for all.

"The anti-integration demonstrations, the growing calls for a referendum and the increasing number of East Timorese seeking political asylum overseas are evidence East Timor is a problem that needs solving," Helmy Fauzi, coordinator of the group, said.

Other activists present included Hendardi, H.J.C. Princen, Bonar Tigor Naipospos and Yenny Rosa Damayanti.

Supporters of East Timor's integration said the call for a referendum betrayed the Balibo Declaration made by their leaders in 1976.

Former East Timor governor Mario Viegas Carrascalao said those calling for reform never thought of the consequences for East Timor if it split from Indonesia.

"It's suicidal. East Timor does not have the capacity to stand on its own," Carrascalao said as reported by Antara.

Domingos MD Soares, chairman of the Center for Development Studies in East Timor, said integration with Indonesia remained the best course for East Timor's advancement in the future. (byg/rms)