Cardinal urges govt to win Timorese trust

JAKARTA (JP): The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Indonesia called yesterday for greater effort on behalf of the government to win the trust and confidence of the East Timorese people.

Cardinal Julius Darmaatmadja, the chairman of the Indonesian Bishop's Conference (KWI), asserted the need to eliminate the prevailing suspicions East Timorese people still harbor.

"The question is how to ensure the East Timorese are not easily suspicious of us and how to erase that suspicion," Cardinal Darmaatmadja told reporters after he and other leaders of the conference met President Soeharto at Merdeka Palace.

The President is concerned about the situation in East Timor because the problem would harm everyone, including the Roman Catholic Church, the Cardinal said.

Indonesia's youngest province was shaken by a wave of ethnic and religious violence this month. The predominantly Catholic East Timorese were pitted against migrant traders and non- Catholics.

Although there were no reports of loss of life, several people were injured in the melee which including the torching of a city market.

Cardinal Darmaatmadja said the President recognized that the problem in East Timor was not just caused by ethnic bitterness.

"The problem is also the fact that there was a civil service recruitment (in East Timor) in which many applicants failed to gain entry. This also created social unrest," he said.

Cardinal Darmaatmadja and his delegation briefed the President about the upcoming cardinals' conference on Oct. 28 to Nov. 2. They requested the President receive the participants.

Speaking of Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Cardinal Darmaatmadja said KWI often held regular and amicable meetings with him.

Bishop Belo, unlike the other bishops in Indonesia, does not answer to the authority of KWI but directly to the Vatican because the Holy See does not recognize Indonesia's rule over East Timor.

Frans Seda, a prominent Catholic who was present at the meeting yesterday, said that President Soeharto holds Belo in high regard. "Pak Harto has a very positive outlook of Belo," said Seda who is a former minister of finance.

Meanwhile in East Timor, Fretilin separatist rebels on Monday took potshots at a passing motorcycle convoy on a tour of the province, witnesses said yesterday.

The shots were heard after the motorcade, which included East Timor Governor Jose Abilio Osorio Soares, passed the edge of the forest in the Illomar and Uato Carbau districts in Viqueque regency.

There were no reported casualties from the gunfire.

Over 165 motorcycles are taking part in a five-day tour covering 1,322 kilometers.(mds/yac)

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