Human Rights body monitors East Timor

Human Rights body monitors East Timor

JAKARTA (JP): Two members of the National Commission on Human
Rights were in East Timor last week to monitor the situation in
Indonesia's youngest province.

Bambang W. Soeharto and Clementino Dos Reis Amaral, a native
East Timor, on Friday met with Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes
Belo, the highest leader of the Roman Catholic Church in East
Timor, to discuss the human rights situation in the territory,
according to the Antara news agency on Saturday.

The Bishop welcomed the visit and urged the commission to make
periodic visits to the territory and to continue monitoring the
human rights situation, Bambang said after the meeting.

Belo also suggested that the commission members stop not only
in Dili but also tour East Timor's other regencies.

They also discussed at length the enforcement of law in East
Timor and the need to pay attention to local cultures in dealing
with East Timorese, Bambang said.

Earlier, after meting with East Timor Governor Abilio Jose
Osorio Soares, Bambang and Clementino stressed the need for a
more coordinated and integrated handling of human rights issues
in the province.

There should be greater communication between the government
agencies in East Timor that observe and uphold human rights,
according to Bambang.

Bambang said the commission has found that overall, human
rights observation in East Timor "has been quite good" and not as
bad as often painted by people abroad.

Many human rights problems are being handled in accordance
with proper procedures in East Timor, he said, pointing out the
fact that law enforcement is nowadays handled by the police and
doesn't involve the military.

On political rights, Bambang said he found that the majority
of East Timorese do not question the integration of the territory
with Indonesia

The remaining political problem in East Timor in need of
attention is the participation of the people in the development
process, he said.

People at the grassroots level must be involved in the
development of their territory, he said.

He said the East Timorese should be given the same
opportunities as the rest of Indonesia's peoples to dedicate
their services to the nation.

The human rights commission also queried the governor on the
recent attack against the office of the daily Suara Timor Timur
(Voice of East Timor), by a group of youths early this month.

Police were criticized for failing to respond quickly to the
attack, in which one of the newspaper's reporters was severely
beaten. No one has been arrested to date. (emb)