East Timor integration

Your July 17 editorial on East Timor integration was bold. Congratulations.

The United Nations is probably contributing to the disturbance in the region by regarding Portugal as the administrative power in East Timor. The UN's stand seems unconvincing. Though every honest intellectual admits that terrorism often exposes a legitimate grievance, this may not always be true. It could be a misconception that once a legitimate grievance has been dealt with the violence will end. It may not. The terrorist violence may continue as the government comes closer to solving the grievance as is evident from the pumping of billions of rupiah into East Timor over the last two years. It is because the unrest has developed its own momentum.

Though social conditions in East Timor are different from other parts of Indonesia due to 450 years of Portuguese colonial rule in the province and though there are few East Timorese who speak Indonesian, these factors should not be considered as constraints in the integration of East Timor into Indonesia.

Your suggestion for the need to incorporate psychological and ethnological factors when drafting policies in East Timor is good. Yet the answer for integration lies in the economic development and the creation of a right atmosphere for investors. Political solutions can only work as an external medication for the wound while economic prosperity in the region would work deep inside and treat and heal the sickness.

The government's recent policy reintroducing a tax holiday could contribute to a balanced development of all the regions of the nation. Since the most important factor that has the greatest influence on the siting of investment ventures is political stability, the government should probably come up with schemes of guaranteed returns and investment security by providing some sort of insurance to investors operating in the disturbed regions.

When the discontented youth are softened by productive employment, the harmony will spread from Dili and other urban centers to the jungles, where Fretilin has its hideouts.

D. PRABHAKAR

Jakarta