Germany protests embassy incident
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)