Habibie has no regrets in E. Timor

Habibie has no regrets in E. Timor

JAKARTA: Former president B.J. Habibie has no regrets in
holding a referendum that resulted in the people of East Timor
overwhelmingly voting for independence from Indonesia in 1999.

"I did it because I wanted to show the world that there was
freedom in Indonesia," Habibie told Indonesian journalists in
Hamburg, where he now lives, on Tuesday.

In the referendum, monitored by the United Nations (UN), East
Timorese voted for independence more than 20 years after
Indonesia invaded East Timor in 1976.

Habibie said that the 1945 Constitution stated that
Indonesia's territory covered the area previously known as the
Dutch East Indies, which did not include East Timor. "Therefore
there is no part of Indonesia called East Timor," he said.

His critics call the referendum a blunder, with some going as
far as demanding that Habibie be held responsible for the
breakaway.

Another consideration for the referendum, he said, was that
the UN had never recognized East Timor as a part of Indonesia.

"Because I respect human rights, I gave them (East Timorese)
the option if they wanted to become part of Indonesia or wanted
independence," he said. --Antara