East Timor marks 19th integration anniversary

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)