Emergency call for East Timor rejected

Emergency call for East Timor rejected

JAKARTA (JP): A plenary Cabinet meeting turned down on Monday
the proposal of Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Wiranto to
declare a state of emergency in East Timor, Minister of
Information Muhammad Yunus said.

In a media briefing which followed the meeting on East Timor,
Yunus confirmed that Wiranto proposed to put the strife-torn
territory under military emergency status to allow it to take
necessary measures to end rampant violence.

He said the Cabinet warned the plan would contravene the May 5
agreement between Indonesia, Portugal and the United Nations
which ruled the Indonesian police were in charge of maintaining
public order and security before and during the self-
determination process.

"It (the proposal) was discussed but it contained many
implications, because... actually there is an agreement that TNI
personnel should be withdrawn (from East Timor)," Yunus said.

Speaking before the meeting at Bina Graha presidential office,
Wiranto, who is also minister of defense and security, said he
would recommend the Cabinet consider the emergency status to
empower the military in its effort to restore calm in the
territory.

"I will submit a proposal to authorize the security forces to
act without any hesitation and establish legal certainty," he
said.

He said declaring a state of emergency was important in
restoring security before entering "phase three", in which the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) would decide on endorsing
East Timor's separation from Indonesia.

Wiranto also disclosed his plan to send six battalions of Army
reinforcements, with three battalions already having arrived in
East Timor. A battalion consists of between 700 and 1,000 troops.

"In the short term, we will bring in more forces. Then we are
going to evaluate the status of this area, whether it will
continue to be under civilian order or whether there is a need
for stricter authority to take action against anyone bearing arms
and shooting people at will."

National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi, who also attended the
meeting, acknowledged the situation in East Timor was out of
control and the difficulty in restoring order. He said police
needed the presence of more military troops.

"Even the local government no longer functions. The only thing
we can hope for is that everyone will exercise restraint."

Reports say that desperate pro-Jakarta militiamen backed by
troops are rioting and attacking thousands of refugees.

Roesmanhadi said no less than 16,000 people were sheltered at
the provincial police headquarters. He added that police planned
to transport the people to refugee centers on the territory's
border with East Nusa Tenggara.

"The latest developments are not calm. It is still out of
control," Roesmanhadi said.

Habibie has been widely criticized since Saturday for his
decision last year to hold the Aug. 30 ballot. The United Nations
announced on Saturday morning an overwhelming 78 percent vote in
favor of independence.

Responsibility

Before the Cabinet meeting, the President met with leaders of
the House of Representatives to explain the vote's outcome, its
implications and the violent aftermath.

"I take full responsibility for whatever happens in East
Timor," he later told a brief joint media briefing with House
Speaker Harmoko.

He said the MPR would still have to approve the separation
when it convened in November. Until then, East Timor remained
under Indonesia's jurisdiction and was therefore the
responsibility of his government, he added.

Habibie disclosed that earlier in the day he held a lengthy
phone conversation with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the
situation in East Timor.

Harmoko neither endorsed nor rejected Habibie's moves on East
Timor, saying that they both agreed in the meeting that the
President would account for his actions before the MPR.

East Timor's "integration" with Indonesia in 1976 was endorsed
by the MPR through a 1978 decree.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas also said the agreement
with the United Nations required that East Timor's separation
first be endorsed by the MPR.

"It is not the government who decides. It (the separation)
must be confirmed first by the MPR," he said after accompanying
Habibie at the meeting.

Results of the vote did not automatically mean independence
for East Timor, he said. "Indonesia never promised, nor is it in
any position to promise, independence. That's neither our
authority nor our obligation."

The MPR could theoretically reject the President's decision on
East Timor, he added.

"It could happen," he said. However, he added that he expected
the MPR to endorse the government's decision on East Timor since
the ballot was organized by the United Nations and observed by
the international community.

On the fate of East Timorese who fought and voted for
integration, Alatas pledged the government would not abandon
them.

He said the government would accommodate them if they wished
to keep Indonesian citizenship. If they wished to become East
Timorese, the government would ensure their safety, with the help
of the United Nations, he said.

"It never crossed our minds that we would leave behind the
90,000 or so East Timorese who supported integration. We're not
like the Portuguese," he said, alluding to the Portuguese
colonial administration's departure from East Timor in 1975 and
the bloody civil war which ensued.

Jakarta-appointed East Timor Governor Jose Abilio Soares
reiterated his rejection of the vote results on Monday, claiming
that it was engineered by the United Nations Mission in East
Timor (UNAMET) and the proindependence forces, Antara reported.

He said it provoked anger among East Timorese who expressed
their outrage through violence.

He stressed that East Timor remained under Indonesian rule
until the result was accepted by the MPR.

Meanwhile, the Australian and American embassies were the
targets of demonstrations over East Timor on Monday.

Some 200 people from two separate groups -- the Jakarta
Communication Forum and the People's Front of Red and White
Defenders -- converged outside the Australian embassy on Jl.
Rasuna Said, South Jakarta, to protest the burning of the
Indonesian flag outside the Indonesian consulate in Melbourne
last week. They demanded that Canberra apologize for the
incident.

About 50 people demonstrated outside the U.S. embassy on Jl.
Merdeka Selatan, blaming the U.S. government for the violence in
East Timor. (prb/05/emb)