East Timor students stage counter rally

YOGYAKARTA (JP): About 100 East Timorese students in this ancient city staged a counter rally yesterday in response to Monday's pro-integration demonstration in Jakarta.

They strongly rejected the claims made by a group of about 30 pro-integration activists, who met with officials in Jakarta to reassert their allegiance to the government.

In the demonstration in Jakarta, the pro-government activists condemned East Timorese separatist leader in exile Ramos Horta, who shared this year's Nobel Peace Prize with Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo.

The students arrived at the legislative council near the Malioboro business district at about 11 a.m., shouting slogans and carrying banners.

In their statement submitted to the councilor, the students said the pro-integration activists did not have any mandate to claim that they represent all of the East Timorese people.

"They do not have enough knowledge about East Timorese affairs," the students said. "They think that the East Timorese problem is the affair of a certain group."

They reaffirmed their support for the Nobel committee's choice of Belo and Horta, whom they said most deserved it.

The students urged the government to involve Belo, Horta and Xanana Gusmao, an East Timorese rebel now jailed in Jakarta, in the peace talks on East Timor.

They reiterated the demand that the government free all political prisoners, including East Timorese ones.

The protesters dispersed peacefully at 1:15 p.m. Three military trucks took them back to their dormitory, about eight kilometers north of Malioboro. (23/pan)