Govt calls for restraint over Belo's remarks

JAKARTA (JP): Government and community leaders called on all parties for restraint yesterday, amidst concerns that the protests and counter-protests over East Timor Bishop Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo's remarks could lead to violence.

House Speaker Wahono said everyone should retrain themselves.

He called on community leaders and the press not to fan the flames of the matter further and to allow the situation to cool down.

"We have to control ourselves. Don't make things worse by heating up the situation," Wahono said.

Separately, Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. called for calm.

Underlining the importance of the media, he called on them to act responsibly by not aggravating the issue further.

"This issue is still contained within acceptable levels," he said as quoted by Antara.

A string of demonstrations, some supporting, others denouncing Belo, have hit Jakarta, Dili and other cities in the past few days.

Some 2,000 people denounced Belo in a protest here Tuesday. At the same time, in Dili, East Timorese students took to the streets to support their Bishop.

The furor was sparked by an Oct. 14 interview with German magazine Der Spiegel, in which Belo was quoted as saying that Indonesian troops treated Timorese people like "scabby dogs".

Belo, who was awarded the Nobel peace prize last month, has not denied making such a statement, but has asked to be given time review a tape recording of the interview.

The call for restraint and calm was also aired by the National Human Rights Commission yesterday.

The commission said debate over Belo's remark has caused considerable disquiet and warned that growing misperceptions could spark conflict.

The commission underlined each individual's right to express their views and opinions freely.

"The commission is of the opinion that excessive action and denunciation without any legal basis is a violation of human rights. It is a person's right to explain their thinking and opinions freely and responsibly," commission member Arnold Baramuli said yesterday.

The commission warned of a growing tendency of certain groups to exploit and corrupt issues for their own political interests.

In Semarang, Central Java, Moslem scholar Amien Rais said he believed that Bishop Belo did make the remarks.

"I'm quite convinced Der Spiegel wrote it the way it was said. I doubt such an internationally famous magazine would make something like that up. The stakes are too high," said Amien, who heads the Muhammadiyah organization.

"I'm not surprised at such an emotional outburst from Belo. I have a recording of Belo with the BBC in London saying that the government is forcing East Timor to Islamize, and other fictitious claims," he said.

Antara reported yesterday that the editor of Der Spiegel said he would provide Bishop Belo with a transcript of the interview, but to date he had not been asked.

Stephen Simon said in Hamburg that the journalist who conducted the interview, Jurgen Kremp, did not record the conversation on tape, but jotted it down instead.

The interview was conducted in English, Simon said.

Meanwhile, another demonstration of 700 youths rocked Dili yesterday. What started out as a peaceful gathering to hand a petition to the local legislature, turned violent as buildings and cars were wrecked, witnesses said.

There were no reports of casualties.

Antonio Freitas Parada, speaker of the East Timor legislature, said the rally was probably infiltrated by trouble makers who sought to exploit the situation.

Meanwhile in Jakarta, four East Timorese youths who entered the Spanish Embassy on Tuesday seeking asylum, boarded a plane out of Jakarta after Portugal agreed to give them asylum.

It is the tenth time this year that East Timorese youths have jumped fence into foreign embassies in Jakarta to seek asylum. (mds)