East Timor exodus continues
DILI (JP): The demand for containers is rising and at least 100 cars and 120 motorbikes have been sent out of East Timor by their owners since the government announced its plan to let go of the tiny province, local officials said on Tuesday.
Head of the Dili Port Authority Noke A. Rahakbouw described how a large number of people, mostly migrants, were not only sending out vehicles but also other belongings such as TVs, refrigerators and furniture. The main destinations are Surabaya in East Java and Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi.
"The vehicles comprise trucks, Kijang vans, and Taft jeeps. They are also filled with beds, mattresses, and kitchen equipment," Noke told journalists at his office.
Apparently worried about their future security following the new policy shift, these people also have booked at least 12 containers from a forwarding firm, PT Taruna Kusan, despite rising tariffs.
The head of the private firm, who identified himself only as Edo, said teachers of the most popular state-run senior high school SMA I have booked at least four containers. The cost of each container bound for Surabaya is Rp 3 million (US$352).
Chief of the East Timor Provincial Police Col. Timbul Silaen meanwhile said only 56 cars and 120 motorbikes have been sent out of the province since November. However, he conceded that police did not have firm data on the dispatch of vehicles by land to Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.
Meanwhile, thousands of mourners on Tuesday marched peacefully to escort the coffin of 25-year-old Benedito de Jesus Pirres. Thousands of other people lined the 3 kilometer route from his home at Bairopits in West Dili to the Santa Cruz public cemetery.
Benedito was shot in the head on Sunday by an unidentified gunman during a violent clash between pro-independence and pro- Indonesian youths in Aikloran, not far from his house.
While the mourners sang hymns, some people shouted "Viva Timor Leste (East Timor as it is known locally) " and "Long live independence".
Police and security personnel tightly guarded the procession and the cemetery, where at least 50 people were killed when soldiers opened fire on demonstrators in November 1991.
"Let us live in peace," Father Adrianus Ola said in his sermon at the cemetery.
Police have vowed to thoroughly investigate the death. Pro- independence groups accused pro-Indonesian youths of starting the violence with unprovoked shooting, while the villagers resisted with arrows and knives.
The groups also alleged the Armed Forces (ABRI) had armed pro- integration youths with rifles and pistols in order to create chaos. ABRI has categorically denied the allegations.
Rojario Hercules, an East Timorese regarded as one of the most ruthless hoodlums in Jakarta until last year, told Tempo news weekly recently he would be able to restore security in his native province if his 5,000-strong group of supporters were properly armed.
Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas reiterated that Indonesia would not leave East Timor in an irresponsible manner as Portugal had done in the 1970s.
"We will not leave East Timor in an irresponsible manner. We are ready to sit together, and we think we should do so, with Portugal and the U.N. Secretary-General to arrange the best way of letting East Timor go," Alatas said on Tuesday, as quoted by Antara.
The government announced on Jan. 27, that it would let East Timor separate from Indonesia if its offer of wide-ranging autonomy was turned down by the East Timorese, Portugal and the U.N.
Alatas and his Portuguese counterpart Jaime Gama agreed to continue another round of negotiations under UN auspices on March 10 following their first meeting early this month.
Despite press reports that the first meeting had failed to achieve any significant progress, especially on the referendum question, Alatas insisted on Tuesday encouraging results have been achieved.
"There are only one or two matters concerning the agreement package which still need to be negotiated further," the official state agency quoted Alatas as saying.
President B.J. Habibie most recently said he wanted to see an independent East Timor by Jan. 1 next year, if the province rejected the autonomy plan.
"This is not a deadline, but a hope that, starting in the year 2000, we will be rid of the burden," Alatas said on Tuesday.
Habibie's advisor on foreign affairs Dewi Fortuna Anwar even pointed out on Tuesday that Indonesia would sponsor a free East Timor as the newest member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Meanwhile visiting Dili Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo warned in Canberra, Australia, that East Timor would need a transition period of up to 16 years to become an independent state.
"We must prepare the people since we have two opposing groups -- those who seek independence and those that prefer integration. I think it is necessary to give the process time and later we can organize everything," AP reported the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize laureate as saying. (33/prb)