ASEAN membership 'vital to E. Timor future'

ASEAN membership 'vital to E. Timor future'

SINGAPORE (AFP): Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) membership is vital for the future security of East Timor, Nobel peace laureate Jose Ramos Horta said here on Monday.

Horta, foreign minister in the East Timor transitional cabinet, said he had already gained the support of most ASEAN nations, including Singapore.

"Membership in ASEAN will provide us with a sort of security umbrella," he said, adding that the territory "cannot afford and should not spend too much money on an army."

"It (East Timor) would have an added voice to its concerns, its agenda," he said.

East Timor has been under United Nations administration since November last year, after a wave of terror blamed on militias trained by the Indonesian army after the territory's independence vote on Aug. 30, 1999.

Horta said that of the 10 ASEAN members, visits had been made to Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand to drum up support for ASEAN membership and "all of them have said they welcome East Timor."

The other ASEAN members are Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Brunei.

Reports that Singapore objected to East Timor's entry were inaccurate, Horta said. After last month's ASEAN summit, Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid launched a tirade against Singapore, which included the accusation that the island state had barred the way for East Timor to join the regional grouping.

Singapore "are in principle very receptive to East Timor joining. The only question is the timing," Horta said here after delivering a speech on East Timor to the Institute of Southeast Asian studies.

East Timor is also keen to join the proposed West Pacific Forum (WPF) being considered by Indonesia and Australia, but not be at the expense of its efforts to gain ASEAN membership, Horta said.

"We will join as long as that does not mean exclusion from ASEAN," he said, adding that he had been told by some ASEAN countries, which he did not identify, that membership in the forum would exclude East Timor from ASEAN.

"We still think ASEAN is irreplaceable," he said.

The WPF, first mooted by Wahid in the aftermath of the East Timor crisis, will also include Papua New Guinea and the Philippines.

Horta also praised U.S. President-elect George W. Bush's nomination of Condoleezza Rice as his National Security Adviser and Colin Powell as Secretary of State.

"I was so pleased and touched by President-elect Bush's announcement of the appointment of the new secretary of state and national security adviser," he said, speaking in Singapore "There could be no more sensitive, reliable people at the helm of U.S. foreign policy because of their particular background," he added.

"I believe we will also have a very sensitive engagement by the U.S. at least in regard to East Timor, if not in regard to the rest of the world."

The U.S. has kept a watchful eye on East Timor since it was ravaged by pro-Jakarta militias after last year's vote for independence.

The U.S. ambassador to Jakarta Robert Gelbard recently warned Indonesia it risked losing international support if it failed to disband militias still operating from West Timor.