Indonesia may release grip on East Timor

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia may let East Timor go if the government's proposal to grant special autonomy for the territory is rejected by the East Timorese and the international community, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said on Wednesday.

Another government official said the separation process could start as soon as July 2000.

Alatas said the government will propose to the new People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), expected to hold its general assembly at the end of this year, to scrap its earlier decree on the province's 1976 integration into Indonesia.

"If 22 years of historic unity between East Timorese and the entire Indonesian people is not sufficient for the East Timorese to choose to remain with us, then it is natural and wise, even democratic and constitutional, that we propose to the MPR's next general assembly that East Timor is separated in a dignified and honorable way from Indonesia," Alatas said.

Alatas and Minister of Information Lt. Gen. Muhammad Yunus held a media briefing after attending a five-hour cabinet meeting at the Bina Graha presidential office.

According to Alatas, only the MPR has the right to release East Timor from Indonesia, because the legal base for its integration is also an MPR decree.

The integration of East Timor into Indonesia was legalized through Law No. 6 in 1976. It was then strengthened by MPR decree No. 6 in 1978. The next MPR, which will be the result of next June's general election, will hold its first session in August.

Alatas said he hoped the fate of Indonesia's proposal for broad-based autonomy for the territory, currently being negotiated by Portugal and Indonesia with the backing of the United Nations, could be decided around April.

He described the proposal as the most appropriate and fair solution to the issue, and said a referendum would only lead to conflicts and civil war there.

"The Indonesian government remains confident that our proposal is the most realistic, just, practical and promising for a comprehensive solution for East Timor," Alatas said.

President B.J. Habibie, who chaired the cabinet meeting, rejected the proposal of a period of "special autonomy" before a referendum is held for self determination. He said the plan was too costly.

"Five or 10 years after the Indonesian government implements the autonomy, then ... they (Timorese) are as free as they want while we continue financing them, because they do not have their own national financing resources ... then they say goodbye, thank you," the minister said.

"The President hopes it can start around July next year," a government official said on condition of anonymity.

Habibie's proposal for autonomy, however, received cool reception from many East Timorese and their leaders. They insisted that autonomy should only be a transitional period before a referendum to vote on independence.

Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Habibie's advisor on foreign affairs, said Habibie had planned to release East Timor since the beginning of his administration.

"Why do we have to encounter so many international problems when we have already so many problems at home. Why suffer all this? Why do we need East Timor, and why don't we just let them go?" Dewi quoted the President as asking her in a recent private meeting.

Alatas said a recent letter from Australian Prime Minister John Howard to the President had contributed to the decision.

"But it (the decision) is not only a reaction to the letter, but is also based on other input and self-reflection," Alatas said.

In the letter Howard informed Habibie that Australia might shift its traditional stance of recognizing Indonesia's sovereignty over the territory to eventually support an independent East Timor.

"The letter disappointed the President," Dewi said.

Dewi denied the suggestion that Habibie had not involved Alatas' office in the decision-making process.

She acknowledged, however, that Habibie's decisions were often made after meeting with other officials or guests.

"Pak Habibie is a talking and simultaneously a thinking President," said Dewi, describing Habibie's style.

The cabinet meeting also decided to provide "a kind of house arrest" for jailed rebel Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao by providing a special house for him.

The house would be called a special branch of Cipinang Prison in East Jakarta, where Xanana is currently being detained, because, by law, a house detention status cannot be granted to a convict.

The joint 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winners Dili Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and Ramos Horta, along with Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio, reacted cautiously to the plan.

"I react with a lot of skepticism," AFP quoted Horta as saying.

"Yes, I will be happy if the offer is put into practice," Belo said.

Apart from the question of East Timor, the President also decided to revoke the citizenship of any Indonesians living in Singapore if they take part in the island state's mandatory military service during their stay there.

By attending the national service, it means that the Indonesian passport holders have become Singapore citizens, Yunus said.

"The President orders the revocation of their passports," the minister noted. (prb)