East Timor marks 19th integration anniversary

JAKARTA (JP): Some East Timorese have spent the last several days beautifying their towns to celebrate 19 years as Indonesia's 27th province.

The Antara news agency reported from the capital Dili yesterday that townspeople in the regencies of Ermera, Manatuto, Viqueque and others have adorned street lamps with colorful banners of "Happy 19th anniversary of East Timor's integration into Indonesia".

The local people will celebrate the anniversary on Thursday instead of yesterday, which coincided with the exact date of integration. The news agency did not explain the reason for the delay.

Various folk activities and contests to commemorate the event began several days ago. East Timor was integrated into Indonesia on July 17, 1976, following a civil war there. The United Nations still considers Portugal as the administrating power over the region.

Maj. Gen. H.R. Adang Ruchiatna, commander of the Udayana military command which covers East Timor, Bali, West and East Nusa Tenggara provinces, said yesterday that "the integration is an unalterable part of the history of Indonesia and the people of East Timor."

"Especially for the majority of East Timorese who wanted it," he told a meeting with local officials, community and religious leaders in Balibo, Bobonaro regency, some 140 kilometers west of Dili.

The subdistrict Balibo is considered to be the birthplace of the "Balibo Declaration" which propelled integration 19 years ago, Antara reported.

"Commemorating integration is by no means an admission that the integration question has been resolved," Adang said.

In a related development, Indonesia's office of the Agency for Inter-parliamentary Cooperation reported yesterday that a delegation of European parliamentarians and a group of United States congressmen will visit East Timor next month.

The MPs and congressmen will arrive for a ten-day visit here on August 9. They will also be invited to attend the state-of-the-nation speech by President Soeharto on August 16 at the House of Representatives.

The agency's spokesman, Zamharir A.R, said that the guests will also visit several other provinces.

"Hopefully they will find out for themselves how East Timor..has developed," Zamharir said. "All this time, they have obtained misleading information from people who are anti- Indonesia." (swe)