Germany protests embassy incident
JAKARTA (JP): The German government yesterday officially lodged a complaint with Jakarta over the alleged beating of East Timorese youths after a failed attempt to enter the German Embassy.
An Indonesian foreign ministry official told The Jakarta Post that German Ambassador Heinrich Seemann delivered the protest to the ministry yesterday.
He said the ambassador was received by Hamid Alhadad, the secretary of the directorate general for political affairs.
The protest revolves around alleged brutality by Indonesian security officers towards eight Timorese youths who attempted to scale the fence around the embassy compound located on Jl. Jend. Sudirman, Central Jakarta, early Tuesday morning.
It was also reported that security officers dragged a number East Timorese out of the embassy compound. The officers also reportedly beat them up.
Some of the youths reportedly had to be taken to hospital for treatment.
The former Portuguese colony of East Timor was integrated as part of Indonesia in 1976, a fact still unrecognized by the United Nations.
Meanwhile in Bonn, Indonesian Ambassador Hartono Martodiredjo was summoned to the German foreign office and asked to convey a message demanding that Jakarta conduct an investigation into the incident.
"The foreign ministry state secretary, Peter Hartmann, summoned the Indonesian ambassador today and protested against the brutal treatment of people from East Timor in front of the German Embassy," said a German ministry statement as quoted by Reuters from Bonn yesterday.
On yet another occasion, the group of three East Timorese who entered the Dutch Embassy in Kuningan, South Jakarta, left for Portugal yesterday.
The spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, Sri Wahyu Endah, said the young men were to take a KLM flight to Amsterdam before continuing on to Lisbon after spending just over 24 hours inside the embassy.
The last three bring the number of East Timorese to leave for political asylum in Portugal since September up to 75. (mds)