East Timor's reguest for right branch office hailed

East Timor's reguest for right branch office hailed

SEMARANG, Central Java (JP): East Timorese's request for a
branch office of the National Commission on Human Rights shows
that people in the territory mean to settle their problems
without foreign intervention, a rights activist said yesterday.

Commission member Muladi said that the rights body would meet
the East Timorese people's request for a branch so that citizens
can air their grievances through it.

Muladi, who took part in the recent investigation into the
Jan. 12 killing of six people in Liquisa, said he hoped the
branch office would be able to tackle human rights issues in the
youngest province.

"I hope in future we will no longer monitor development in
East Timor through foreign media because we can obtain firsthand
information," he told The Jakarta Post.

In a previous interview with the Post, Muladi expressed his
concern over the fact that people in East Timor often refer their
problems to institutions like the UN, International Red Cross and
the church rather than to the government.

"Foreign intervention will only worsen the situation because
outsiders involve their political interests," he said.

Muladi said the commission was working on the final details of
the plan, such as who will run the branch office and how it will
implement its activities.

"We are thinking of positioning one commission member at that
branch office or have the personnel work on a rotating basis," he
added.

Meanwhile, Antara reported from Dili yesterday that the local
district court has sentenced a man to one year imprisonment for
setting fire to a motorcycle during last December's rioting.

The convict, Atiko Silvano Rebeiro Martins, 19, is the seventh
person to have been sentenced in the trials of more than 25
people involved in three days of ethnical rioting in December
which was sparked by the murder of a local trader by a South
Sulawesi migrant. (har/pan)