Australia under fire over document leakage

JAKARTA (JP): A senior government official lashed out at the Australian media on Tuesday following their reports of a document which claimed the Indonesian government was arranging a contingency plan in anticipation of a loss in the August ballot on the future of East Timor.

News of the document, published in Tuesday's edition of The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne's The Age, came as Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer announced plans to visit Jakarta and East Timor's capital Dili next week.

Presidential spokeswoman Dewi Fortuna Anwar said she knew nothing about the document, but added that if the document existed, the method of its leakage was deplorable.

"As a country which claims to be a friend of Indonesia, Australia should have maintained the friendship and not published the document. The Australian media have their own agenda, namely to support the proindependence faction," Dewi told The Jakarta Post.

Stamped "secret", the document, reportedly signed by H.R. Garnadi, the domestic political affairs assistant to Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Feisal Tanjung, reaffirms the government's support for prointegration militias in East Timor, but predicts a loss for prointegration forces in the UN-sponsored ballot next month.

"A contingency plan in case of independence must be developed as quickly as possible. The government must allocate a budget to finance such a plan.

"And if now the government is already finding it difficult to support a victory, then trying to face this undesired possibility without a contingency plan will only cause Indonesia's image in the eyes of the world to become worse, especially in the eyes of the rest of the Indonesian people," the document says.

The contingency plan includes massive evacuation of civil servants and migrants from East Timor several days before the poll results are announced.

It also alleges the United Nations Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) favors the proindependence faction. The report said "there is a tendency that its jobs are far more than administering the ballot".

Dewi shared the view of former East Timor's Fretilin armed resistance group president Abilio Araujo, who said Australia intended to become the new master in the former Portuguese colony.

"We reject Australian intervention in Indonesia's internal affairs, including East Timor. Australia cannot act as a godfather ... it is just a part of UNAMET, which should remain neutral," she said.

Dewi defended the government's decision to continue its relief programs in East Timor, saying it was still accountable for people in the province.

Australian officials said Tuesday they were trying to establish the authenticity of the document.

Low turnout

Meanwhile, a low turnout in voter registrations for the popular consultation next month has been observed. As of Tuesday, only 33,600 out of some 407,000 people had signed up, Maj. Gen. Adam Damiri said.

It was the first announcement on the voter turnout since the registration period began last Friday.

UNAMET, the institution administering the direct ballot, said it would not report the progress of voter registration for the time being. UNAMET spokesman David Wimhurst said in Dili that the number of registered voters would be disclosed only after the registration was completed on Aug. 4.

Adam, chief of Udayana military command which oversees East Timor, said from the command headquarters in Denpasar, Bali, that strict -- and in some areas confusing -- requirements had prevented eligible voters from enrolling.

"Great enthusiasm to sign up for the vote has been seen, but perhaps some East Timorese are not well informed about the requirements to register," Adam, who had just returned from a visit to the province, said.

"Many people have been unable to register due to incomplete registration material."

He said he had asked UNAMET chief Ian Martin that more flexible and uniform requirements be instituted.

Complaints have been lodged against UNAMET for requiring aspiring voters to show either an identity card, student card, driving license or passport, but also at least one extra certificate, which include baptism, birth and marriage certificates, or identity documents from the Portuguese government called codule de vida crista or cedula pessoal.

Adam said the Indonesian Military (TNI) had met with the proindependence faction Falintil four times so far to follow up on a disarmament agreement signed on June 18. He said all weapons belonging to proindependence militia would be surrendered to security authorities at the end of the month.

"We met face to face, shook hands and hugged each other. These actions indicated that they (proindependence groups) also want peace, although none of them have so far given up their weapons," Adam said.

He said if the disarmament process was completed, TNI would withdraw its troops from security posts and end its military actions in the province.

In Jakarta, the National Police told a delegation of East Timor Students and the Forum for Monitoring of the Direct Ballot that it would help East Timorese living outside the province to return home to register with poll officials.

In exchange for its commitment, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Togar Sianipar urged the independent poll watchdog to promote a peaceful vote process and apply pressure to UNAMET to remain neutral.(lem/amd/49)