Ethnic identity important for Timorese: Expert

Ethnic identity important for Timorese: Expert

JAKARTA (JP): While the government continues to pour money
into the economic development of East Timor, attention and
respect must also be given to the preservation of the province's
cultural identity, a political observer said yesterday.

The deputy governor of the National Resilience Institute,
Juwono Sudarsono, told The Jakarta Post that while major steps in
development have been achieved in the past 20 years, the ethnic
identity of the East Timorese must be preserved.

"It's not just a matter of building schools and roads. They
want to be respected, that's the key!" he said after attending
the opening ceremony of a photo exhibition documenting East
Timor's struggle in its integration with Indonesia.

While continuing to appropriate a large chunk of state
funding, East Timor continues to be fraught with unrest and
discontent.

Juwono said the discontent will likely continue "if they (East
Timorese) are scoffed at, particularly by migrants whether they
be officials, soldiers, laborers or executives".

Juwono believes ethnic and cultural respect could eliminate
tension in the province.

"What they want is for their dignity to be respected and not
have it vanish," he said. He added that with Indonesia's motto of
"unity in diversity" there should be no reason to discriminate.

"Just like I am an Indonesian, I am also a Javanese and
Sundanese," Juwono said of his ethnic background.

The photo exhibition in the atrium of the World Trade Center
provides the public with a rare opportunity to see the fight of
the Timorese people to integrate with Indonesia.

Nearly 100 photos are on display in the exhibition which will
last until Friday.

The exhibition is organized to commemorate the second
anniversary of the Portugal-Indonesia Friendship Association
which fell on Jan. 17.

The association's chairperson, Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana,
daughter of President Soeharto, along with Minister of Foreign
Affairs Ali Alatas were on hand to open the exhibition.

The association was created to help forge closer people-to-
people contact between Portugal and Indonesia. It has sponsored
various trips here both by Portuguese and Timorese now living in
Portugal.

These efforts are aimed at helping create a conducive
atmosphere to an internationally acceptable solution to the East
Timor issue pursued by the Indonesian and Portuguese foreign
ministers.

Alatas said the confidence building measures being undertaken
by Lisbon have been quite a letdown. "The response from the
Portuguese side is frankly disappointing."

Lisbon has done little to encourage or host trips by
Indonesians to Portugal. A visit led by pro-integration leader
F.X. Lopes da Cruz was met with aspersion when it went to
Portugal, he recalled.

"Up to now, it is difficult for us to ascertain if we send a
cultural mission, for instance, it will be welcomed," he said. He
added that the next exchange being looked into is a visit by
Portuguese academics here.

Though expressing disappointment at Lisbon's efforts, Alatas
spoke well of his new Portuguese counterpart, Jaime Gama.

"I got the impression that the new foreign minister is more
open. Let's just hope that the dialog will now be concrete," he
said of his first meeting with Gama in London this month.

Meanwhile the four Timorese who sought asylum through the
French Embassy on Monday, yesterday evening left for Portugal.

Their departure raises the total number of Timorese who have
left for Portugal in the last two years to 66. (mds)