East Timor already has greater autonomy: Alatas

East Timor already has greater autonomy: Alatas

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas rebuffed
calls for greater autonomy for East Timor yesterday, saying
Indonesia's youngest province is already enjoying more privileges
than others.

"East Timor has autonomy in the substantive sense of the word
and yet some people are pursuing the non-essential, such as the
status of special territory", he told the House of
Representatives (DPR) Commission I overseeing foreign affairs.

Alatas said the kind of autonomy that the Indonesian
government offers is the delegation of greater authority to
regencies as required by the 1974 law on regional autonomy.

Allowing autonomy to East Timor, the government has divided
the small province into 13 regencies, whose development is
handled directly by Jakarta, he said.

The matter of greater autonomy for East Timor came into the
limelight when East Timor Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo
issued a pastoral letter in July, in which he said that
"autonomy" may help solve the various problems pressing the
provinces.

Alatas recalled the time when Jakarta flatly rejected a
proposal made by Fretilin leader in exile, Ramos Horta, who
demanded autonomy and a referendum to pave the way for his dream
of establishing a separate East Timor state.

"In Ramos' scenario, autonomy is only an intermediate target,"
Alatas said. "The debate (on the autonomy) can go on so long as
people use the law and constitution as their frame of reference."

Alatas also cast doubt over the originality of a letter
reported to have been smuggled out of a prison cell in Jakarta by
imprisoned Fretilin leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao.

"It's possible that the letter was written by his accomplice
like Ramos Horta. Xanana remains silent about it to make people
believe he is smart," he said.

Widely quoted in the Portuguese media, Xanana is said to have
alleged in the letter that human rights abuse was still rife in
East Timor and that he would not repent for what he had done to
seek an independent East Timor.

Alatas stressed that, as in any other country, prisoners in
Indonesia are banned from engaging in political activities from
their cells. Only correspondence with relatives is allowed, he
added.

Diplomats

During the hearing yesterday, several House members also
voiced concern over Indonesian diplomats' poor mastery of
international economic issues as reported in the mass media.

One member said the lack of knowledge makes Indonesian
diplomats perform poorly in international economic negotiations.

Alatas conceded that the general knowledge of Indonesian
diplomats needs improving.

He added, however, that it would be unfair to generalize that
all Indonesian diplomats posted overseas have poor knowledge of
economic issues.

Criticism of Indonesian diplomats' poor knowledge of economic
issues was recently launched by Juwono Sudarsono, a political
scientist from the University of Indonesia.

Alatas said that closer international relations required
diplomats to have sound general knowledge because they are
supposed to lead delegations in international conferences. (pan)