Gusmao sends message of reconciliation

Gusmao sends message of reconciliation

Anastashya Emmanuelle and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

East Timor president-elect Xanana Gusmao ended his two-day visit
here on Friday, leaving behind a strong reconciliation message.

"The people of East Timor greatly look forward to her
participation and will welcome her with all their hearts," Gusmao
said, referring to President Megawati Soekarnoputri's expected
visit.

Megawati has yet to decide whether or not to join world
leaders in the May 19 and May 20 East Timor independence
celebrations in Dili.

During his stay he also met with and invited House Speaker
Akbar Tandjung, Coordinating Minister for Political and Security
Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as well as Minister of Foreign
Affairs Hassan Wirayuda to attend the celebrations.

Gusmao met the press at Borobudur Hotel prior to his departure
to Makassar to visit East Timorese refugees there before
returning to Dili.

In a written statement, Gusmao, who won a landslide victory in
the April 14 elections, reiterated his hopes that Megawati would
attend East Timor's celebrations.

Reading the statement, he said the main purpose of his visit
was to follow up on an earlier invitation to Megawati sent by UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Gusmao also said that rebuilding East Timor's infrastructure,
mending its economy and social problems were far more important
than dwelling on the grim past.

Pro-Jakarta militias ravaged the half-island territory in
protest to the August 1999 referendum, leaving East Timor to
rebuild a nation from scratch as around 80 percent of the
infrastructure was later destroyed.

"There are many things to do. Independence is not about having
a flag and a president ... it is useless if we don't make some
use of it," Gusmao said.

Justice to Gusmao, who led a guerrilla army fighting against
Indonesia's occupation, is about bringing social justice to the
East Timorese.

"We have suffered and died for what? To try other people or to
benefit from independence?" he said when asked whether he would
try those responsible for the atrocities in the territory when he
formally assumes office.

Gusmao, imprisoned for seven years at Cipinang Penitentiary,
refused to comment on the human rights tribunal taking place in
Jakarta.

"I am not an activist, I am not a judge, my priority is how to
give our people the opportunities of democracy," he said.

Separately, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said
on Friday that he was not in the position to comment on
Megawati's plan to visit Dili.

"I just want to say that East Timor will become a country in
the next few days ... It's an unavoidable fact ... East Timor is
now a neighboring country of Indonesia," Endriartono said after
chairing a ceremony marking the retirement of Lt. Gen. Kiki
Syahnakri as Army deputy chief of staff.

"For the sake of our (Indonesia's and East Timor's) common
interests, we have to forget the past and to look toward the
future," he said.

Minister Hassan said on Friday that Indonesian assets in East
Timor were still being identified and assessed by a team from the
National Development Planning Board (Bappenas).

As for the Seroja Heroes Cemetery in Dili, the Indonesian
government is also planning to restore it or remove the remains
to Indonesia, depending on the decision of the families of the
deceased.