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)