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)