Alatas upset at Spring's Timor words

Alatas upset at Spring's Timor words

DUBLIN (AFP): Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali
Alatas has accused his Irish counterpart of publicly attacking
his country in a manner that was "almost like a declaration of
war," according to press reports here.

Alatas said Irish Foreign Minister Dick Spring had attacked
Indonesia over its policy in the former Portuguese colony of East
Timor, according to The Irish Times on Friday.

Alatas said he found the attack unacceptable and unprecedented
in his many years as a diplomat and foreign minister.

The Indonesian minister was referring to an article Spring
wrote in The Irish Times in July in which he accused Indonesia of
human rights abuses in East Timor. In the article, Spring also
called on Indonesia to release political prisoners.

Alatas and Spring discussed the article at the United Nations
in New York on Monday, The Irish Times said, but the meeting
ended abruptly when the Irish minister walked out.

Alatas told the paper it was unacceptable that his country
should be made a "whipping boy" by Spring.

He said he asked Spring if he had ever been to Indonesia and
when he received a negative answer, he told him that he (Alatas)
would think twice before commenting on the conflict in Northern
Ireland.

"I am not saying we are as pure as just-fallen snow," Alatas
told the paper.

"We have perhaps a human rights problem in some remote parts
of Indonesia. We are a large developing country. Which country is
completely free of human rights abuses?" he asked, adding that
the United States and European countries also abused human
rights.