Australia to release East Timor documents

Australia to release East Timor documents

JAKARTA (JP): Australia will release secret government
documents concerning its policy toward East Timor and Indonesia
during a crucial two-year period in the 1970s, Australia's
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Sunday.

The announcement came after reports on Australia's monitoring
of Indonesia's role in the former Portuguese colony, appeared in
Australian newspapers on Friday, Reuters reported from Sydney.

Downer said all documents covering the period from 1974 to
1976 would be released.

"I am going to release all the documents because I think that
it's only fair that there be an open debate about them," Downer
told Channel Nine television.

Downer said the time frame covered in the documents were those
"from the Portuguese revolution up until the final completion of
the incorporation of East Timor into Indonesia".

Downer recently visited Indonesia, East Timor and Lisbon and
held talks with, among others, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali
Alatas and East Timorese resistance leader Jose Alexandre
"Xanana" Gusmao.

Antara reported on Sunday the launch of a book at Xanana's
special detention house in Central Jakarta, the latest in a
series of publications about East Timor since Soeharto stepped
down in May.

The book titled Xanana Gusmao: Timor Leste Merdeka Indonesia
Bebas (Xanana Gusmao: Independent Timor Leste, Indonesia Free)
was edited by activist Tri Agus Siswowihardjo, a former fellow
inmate at Cipinang penitentiary. The author is a member of
Solidamor, a nongovernmental group with a special interest in
East Timor.

"There are critics and there are those with supportive
(attitudes), but I am glad that Indonesians are realizing that
the East Timor issue is of enormous importance," Xanana said.

On Saturday, Xanana had a historic meeting with prointegration
leaders, reportedly the first with a proindependence leader in 23
years. Held on neutral ground at the Ministry of Justice, the
meeting with the Forum for Unity, Democracy and Justice for East
Timor was facilitated by the National Commission on Human Rights.

Forum president Dominggus Dos Dores Soares called for the
release of Xanana, president of The National Resistance Council
for an Independent East Timor, (CNRT), saying his presence was
vital for settlement of the province's future.

From Portugal's capital, Lisbon, Antara reported that the
country's Muslim figures have expressed support for the East
Timorese and hope that it's people will choose to remain within
the Republic of Indonesia.

Achmad Ghulam, deputy leader of the Muslim community in
Portugal, said it would be better for East Timorese to accept the
wide-ranging autonomy package offered by the Indonesian
government. (aan)