Australia under fire over document leakage

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)