EU dodges East Timor issue in talks

By Medyatama Suryodiningrat

SINGAPORE (JP): The European Union yesterday skirted the issue of East Timor during a dialog with their ASEAN counterparts, despite initially expressing a determination to press the issue during the meeting.

At the end of the first day of the 12th dialog meeting between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the EU here yesterday, Indonesia expressed satisfaction only a fleeting reference to East Timor was made.

The 15 European foreign ministers and their seven ASEAN counterparts agreed East Timor would only be mentioned by the EU president, Dutch foreign minister Hans van Mierlo, and briefly replied by the ASEAN co-chair of the meeting, Singapore's Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar.

At the end of yesterday's meeting, Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas expressed satisfaction at proceedings.

"We are satisfied with the arrangement because East Timor was not included in the agenda, was not discussed at all and there was only a short reference in the EU president's speech, and that was only one or two sentences," Alatas said.

Alatas' account of the proceedings was separately confirmed by Malaysian Foreign Minister Abdullah Badawi: "No, it was not discussed," Badawi said. "There was only a brief reference."

Earlier yesterday Alatas told journalists here Portugal was blocking a new treaty between Europe and Southeast Asia over the issue of East Timor.

"(East Timor) was one of the issues used by Portugal to prevent a new-generation agreement to be signed by the two sides and of course we deeply regret it," Alatas said.

"Right now, we're cooperating on the basis of the old agreement with some modifications," he said, adding Indonesia was willing to discuss the East Timor issue with Portugal at the appropriate forum.

There had been wide speculation the issue of East Timor and Myanmar would peeve the two-day dialog meeting.

Some EU members before the meeting appeared poised to confront ASEAN on the issue.

Indonesia, with the backing of other ASEAN members, was adamant the ASEAN-EU dialog was not the appropriate forum to discuss a bilateral issue such as East Timor.

ASEAN would like the discussions to focus on enhancing economic and cultural relations.

"Indonesia always says that it (East Timor) should not be on the agenda, not be discussed (in the ASEAN-EU dialog)," Alatas said yesterday.

He added he had no plans to meet with his Portuguese counterpart while in Singapore.

The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated as part of Indonesia in 1976. However no EU country has recognized the integration.

The EU comprises Austria, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Separately Portuguese Foreign Minister Jaime Gama remained upbeat after the meeting yesterday and appeared satisfied the issue was still touched upon, albeit briefly.

"No issue can be denied the right to be referred in a proper manner and the European Union could not accept the pressure for not raising it," Gama said referring to ASEAN's warnings not to bring up the issue.

Aside from East Timor, the sensitive issue of Myanmar was also raised by the EU but in the casual setting of a working lunch.

Badawi said the lunch time discussion "gave the EU a better understanding of how we see Myanmar."

He argued differences on the issue centered around how the respective groupings approached the issue, not a question of human rights.

The EU has reproached Yangon for its human rights record and advocates a policy of isolation against the ruling junta. ASEAN however pursues a policy of constructive engagement with Myanmar, a prospective member of the association.

In an opening reply the EU president Hans van Mierlo also said that despite disagreements the maturity of the relationship allowed them to be discussed openly and in the spirit of searching a compromise.

The dialog meeting between the two-regional groupings will end later today with a joint declaration which ministers hope can chart a new partnership between Europe and ASEAN.

Economic ties -- Page 12