East Timor agitators desperate: Alatas
East Timor agitators desperate: Alatas
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas yesterday berated the bedlam created by East Timorese agitators in the last 12 months as a "desperate" effort to revive the waning international interest in their cause.
In his regular media briefing at the start of the year, Alatas maintained that various incidents were "contrived" by certain groups or individuals, in particular Fretilin separatist leader Ramos Horta, to seek financial support and to justify the anti- integration movement.
"This is a sign of desperation on the part of certain parties, who, with any means possible, will try to rekindle a dying issue which no longer commands world attention without such invented commotion," he said.
Only by provoking such incidents can Ramos Horta and his associates secure funds from sympathetic non-governmental organizations (NGOs), he said. "If there are no activities, then the flow of money from NGOs will cease."
The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated as part of Indonesia in 1976. The United Nations however continues to regard Lisbon as the reigning administrative authority there.
Based in Australia, Ramos Horta leads the Fretilin separatist movement.
In the past year, dozens of young East Timorese forced their way into foreign embassies in Jakarta, demanding political asylum. The British, French, Japanese, Russian and Dutch embassies were the targets of these "invasions". Each and every government rejected the petition for asylum, but 43 of the youths eventually won passage to Portugal.
Timorese boat people were also found in Australia, while several hundreds of East Timorese used tourist visas to get into the same country where they sought refugee status.
Although reports have surfaced that several Timorese youths have become disenchanted and are wanting to return home after several months in Lisbon, Alatas said Jakarta has not received any formal requests from anyone wanting to return.
Request
"I think they might feel a little ashamed to forward a request," he said, adding that he felt sorry for the youths who have become "political pawns".
Alatas chided Horta for his extravagant lifestyle and expensive tastes, while he abandoned the youths he recruited and encouraged to forsake their country.
Speaking of tomorrow's return of 10 East Timorese and their families, who were sent into exile by the Portuguese colonial administration in 1960, Alatas praised them as true heroes who fought against colonial rule.
"Unlike Ramos Horta, who never fought against Portugal and is on the contrary an accomplice of Portugal," he said.
On the prospect of an international solution to the East Timor issue, Alatas reaffirmed Jakarta's commitment to the UN sponsored talks with the Portuguese foreign minister.
The seventh meeting is due to be held on Jan. 16 in London.
Alatas accused Lisbon of not creating a conducive atmosphere to help find a solution. "Portugal, with all means possible, systematically engages in provocative acts, which we consider adverse to the spirit of mutual restraint," he said in a written statement.
Despite evidence that Ramos Horta has deviated from the agreed terms of the All-Inclusive East Timor Dialog, Jakarta "in principal" supports the holding of another meeting, he said.
For the first time, Timorese that oppose and support integration held a reconciliation dialog in Austria last June.
Alatas said the date and venue of the next dialog will be discussed during the seventh trilateral talks in London in a fortnight's time. (mds)