East Timor proposal 'risky', says Megawati

East Timor proposal 'risky', says Megawati

JAKARTA (Agencies): Leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle Megawati Soekarnoputri has criticized Jakarta's
policy of considering independence for East Timor as risky, Time
magazine said Sunday.

Time quoted her as saying the momentum towards independence
for the former Portuguese colony should be slowed down.

"East Timor is a complicated issue. It needs careful handling.
I would like to consider it from the point of view of regional
stability," she said in an interview with the magazine.

The interview appears in Time's June 7 issue, which will reach
readers in Asia the week beginning May 31.

"The mistake of (incumbent President) Habibie's government is
erratic policies that create more problems than solutions.

"There are more killings in East Timor now. In the end it
destabilizes the country, particularly when we are in an economic
crisis," she said, adding that allowing East Timorese to vote on
independence was a "risky" policy.

The Habibie government on May 5 signed a deal with Portugal
under which East Timorese will vote on Aug. 8 in the presence of
a UN task force, on whether they want independence or to remain a
part of Indonesia with greater autonomy, AFP reported.

Under the agreement, the results of the vote will be presented
to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which can either
accept or reject them.

Megawati, the daughter of Indonesia's founding president
Sukarno, has said before that she disagrees with Habibie's
policy, pledging to uphold her father's vision of a unified
Indonesia if she came to power.

The Time interview was the first time she had publicly
repeated her objections since the May 5 agreement.

CNRT leader

In a related development, Leandro Isaac, one of the Timor
National Resistance Council (CNRT) leaders, left police
headquarters in Dili on Saturday, after sheltering there for 40
days.

Leandro and his family made the decision to return home after
receiving a security guarantee from East Timor Police chief Col.
Timbul Silaen.

Isaac and other CNRT leaders sheltered at police headquarters
after mid-April violence -- allegedly carried out by
prointegration militia -- in which at least 12 people were
killed, AP reported.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, provincial police spokesman Capt.
Widodo disclosed that police had questioned a civilian guard,
believed to have shot farmer Domingus Gustavo, a day before at
Dato village, Liquica regency.

Widodo, however, refused to identify the suspect, who is a
member of the People's Resistance Force (Wanra), and was
stationed at Dato village, about 40 kilometers east of the
provincial capital of Dili.

"The shooter mistakenly identified the 60-year-old victim as a
member of Falintil," Widodo said, referring to the CNRT's armed
wing.

Both CNRT and Falintil are chaired by jailed East Timorese
resistance leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao, who the
government has promised to release if the ballot runs smoothly.

Tension has mounted in the former Portuguese colony since
Indonesia's announcement in January that it would let the East
Timorese decide between independence and autonomy within
Indonesia at a UN-sponsored referendum scheduled for Aug. 8.

Meanwhile, Reuters reported on Saturday that about 20 members
of a prointegration group drank a mixture of blood and whiskey
before pledging their support for integration with Indonesia at
Kotolau village, nestled in mountains some 12 kilometers south of
the capital Dili.

"I will live and die for integration," some 20 villagers
swore, after pricking their fingers and mixing the blood in a
bowl of local whiskey.

Local legislator Ricardino Sarmento dos Rios told the group
that East Timor would be racked by a civil war if proindependent
forces won the direct ballot.

"East Timor will see a return to savage bloodshed," he told
the news agency. (33)