Focus on East Timor still drags on

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

JAKARTA (JP): The issue of East Timor's long-term future hung heavy in everybody's mind this year as it attracted more attention than at any time since the 1991 Dili shooting incident.

The events that transpired proved that while Indonesia may be winning the political battle in forums like the United Nations, it was being pounded in the public relations war as the number of sympathizers and supporters of East Timorese autonomy seemed to multiply overnight.

Continued reports of human rights violations and a series of break-ins into foreign embassies in Jakarta by East Timorese youths seeking asylum both helped to exacerbate the image of a collapse of loyalty to Jakarta in East Timor.

The most painful slap in the face to Indonesia must have been the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize to separatist leader Jose Ramos Horta.

Considered a political opportunist by Jakarta, Horta gained worldwide recognition and credibility in 1996 as a Nobel laureate.

Along with the Nobel prize came the international spotlight and media exposure highlighting the plight of Timorese separatism.

In the eyes of many here, the Indonesian foreign ministry bore a large part of the blame. Analysts asked how could the nomination of East Timor Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and Ramos Horta go undetected in the selection process which began eight months before the announcement was made.

The tiny Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated into Indonesia in 1976. Twenty years on, the UN still regards Lisbon as the administrative power there. Major European states also refuse to recognize the integration.

Kusnanto Anggoro of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies agreed that the foreign ministry's policy of trying to contain the East Timor issue was in tatters.

"In the past, the pressure over East Timor has always been there, only this year it's stronger and we've been dragging and stumbling over ourselves trying to keep up," he said.

While the foreign ministry might need to sharpen its diplomatic skills a bit, Kusnanto points out that the increasingly negative international opinion of Indonesia's presence in East Timor comes back to the performance of the government itself in the territory.

"The foreign ministry has no authority to do things in East Timor," he explains.

In April the United Nations Human Rights Commission again censured developments in the province and expressed "deep concern" over allegations of human rights violations.

There were several milestones too this year, such as an impromptu meeting between Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres and President Soeharto on the fringes of the Asia-Europe summit meeting in Bangkok in March.

However, it did not amount to anything as Indonesia played down the meeting as Guterres put impossible conditions to an old proposal of establishing interest sections in each other's capitals.

Two meetings between the Indonesian and Portuguese foreign ministers under the aegis of the UN secretary-general achieved little as the sides continued to grapple with little more than confidence-building measures.

A third meeting scheduled for December was postponed due to a change in holder of the UN's top post. But even if the meeting had taken place, few people expected much success.

Strategy

As international criticism continued to be thrown in Indonesia's face, Jakarta adopted a new strategy of using its clout in several international organizations to garner support for its stand on East Timor.

During the informal summit of ASEAN heads of government, Indonesia successfully got the backing of the other six members in warning the European Union that persistence on extraneous issues like East Timor could jeopardize relations between the two regional groupings.

Analysts like Dewi Fortuna Anwar of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences hailed the unexpected move, saying it strengthens ASEAN's position.

This tactic was taken a step further when Jakarta, as host of the ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), this month was able to get support for its stance on East Timor included as part of the resolutions of the meeting.

While maintaining that the resolutions were a spontaneous expression of support, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Director General for Political Affairs, Izhar Ibrahim, defended this strategy saying that it showed Indonesia could also get tough.

Describing Jakarta's move, he likened it to someone who would retaliate if slapped on the face.

Despite Jakarta's apparent show of political prowess through ASEAN and the OIC, the declarations proved to have little impact as European heads of government at a meeting in Dublin two weeks ago issued their own statement of concern on East Timor.

Kusnanto Anggoro argued that while consolidation through ASEAN may have done some good, the use of organizations such as the OIC to defend Indonesia's position was largely ineffective.

He maintained that, like it or not, the European Union's criticism would continue given Portugal's central role in the organization.

Furthermore the global trend is toward human rights and any perceived infringement of them will provoke strong international criticism regardless of the number of countries that may side with Jakarta.