East Timor after referendum

East Timor after referendum

From Media Indonesia

Soon after UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced that the recent polling in East Timor was won by the proindependent group, the situation in that region got heated and tense, and thousands of East Timorese fled the territory. The number of refugees both from prointegration and proindependent segments keep increasing day by day. The situation has become worse as many groups and individuals expressed their dissatisfaction over the way the UN Mission in East Timor (UNAMET) handled the referendum. It was alleged that UNAMET had taken the side of the proindependent group, and this resulted in sporadic physical clashes which claimed the lives of innocent people.

Observing this phenomenon, I have good reason to say that there is an indication of foreign elements who were lingering in East Timor to exert pressure on the people. Many of the refugees are believed to have preferred to profess Indonesian citizenship rather than having forced independence.

If the refugees keep increasing and murders go on unchecked it is not impossible that once East Timor is transferred to the National Resistance Council for an Independent East Timor (CNRT) and thus became an independent and sovereign country, no East Timorese will be left there -- a country void of people. Then what does freedom mean for the East Timorese people?

JIWANDONO

Bekasi, West Java