`Dili incident blown out of proportion'

`Dili incident blown out of proportion'

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas says the
recent student demonstrations in the East Timor capital of Dili
have been widely exaggerated by the foreign media and Indonesia's
critics overseas.

"I am sorry to see that it has again been blown out of
proportion, because these things can happen at any student
gathering in any country," Alatas told a press conference at his
office, attended by local and foreign journalists yesterday.

The incident is not unlike other student protests in any
Indonesian city. "But immediately it becomes a very big affair
because it happened in East Timor," he said.

This is the first press conference given by Alatas since he
returned to work last Saturday after a two months absence. The
minister had been out of action because of a heart attack.

The Armed Forces (ABRI) has already issued a statement
explaining the chain of events that led up to the demonstration
at the state-owned, East Timor University in Dili last week.

The statement denied that there were any fatalities in the
incident when police moved to disperse a protest which was
becoming uncontrollable. A number of people arrested at the time
have been released and the few people who were injured have also
been discharged from the hospital.

The military said previous investigations found that not all
the demonstrators were students and that certain parties were
behind the incidents.

"(These things) can happen anywhere, but because it happened
in East Timor, all kinds of theories developed," Alatas said,
adding: "There are always some irresponsible people, some stupid
people, doing stupid things".

Alatas denied the accusations made by Bishop Carlos Felipe
Ximenes Belo, the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Dili, that
the conflict in East Timor is now carrying religious
connotations.

"I think he knows that there is no religious persecution in
East Timor. He should know better than anyone, as the figures
show that Catholicism has flourished in East Timor since
integration."

Alatas thought it was "very irresponsible" to bring in
accusations of persecution when actually there was none. "And he
of all people should know that there is great religious tolerance
in Indonesia, especially in East Timor. Otherwise the Catholic
church would not have flourished as it has in the short span of a
decade, as compared to the 400 years of Portuguese colonization."

AMM

Alatas also briefed reporters about the series of meetings of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Bangkok
beginning on Friday this week which he will attend.

He said Indonesia had expressed its objections to Thailand
against the plan by several non-governmental organizations to
organize a seminar on East Timor simultaneously in Bangkok.

Indonesia's objection was based on the fact that the seminar
was used by people who oppose East Timor's integration as a
political campaign against Indonesia, he said.

"There have been numerous seminars on East Timor, and we
realize that these seminars are the means by which our enemies
stay alive," Alatas said. "What we try to tell (the ASEAN
neighbors) is that this is not one of the pure, academic
seminars," he said.

Indonesia had also expressed its objection to similar seminars
in Manila and Kuala Lumpur over the past two months.

The ASEAN gathering will open this week with the meeting of
the group's foreign ministers.

On Monday, the group will hold the inaugural ASEAN Regional
Forum meeting which will also involve 12 other countries,
including the United States, China, Russia and Japan, to discuss
security situation in the Asia-Pacific region.

On July 26-28, the ASEAN ministers will be meeting with their
counterparts from the countries that are their major trading
partners. (pwn)