Jailed Xanana outlines East Timor program
JAKARTA (JP): Jailed East Timor resistance leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao promised on Wednesday to offer amnesty to his political opponents if East Timorese voted for independence on the Aug. 30 ballot.
"This act of generosity transcends our emotions, heals wounds and elevates the soul of our people. I wholeheartedly appeal for an immediate end to violence," he said in a press conference at his detention house in Central Jakarta.
The press conference was conducted in three languages in succession: Portuguese, English and Indonesian. More than 50 local and foreign journalists attended.
In his first comprehensive program proposal for an independent East Timor to be renamed Timor Lorosae, Xanana said he would immediately hold negotiations with the Indonesian government to define the status of East Timorese civil servants, maintain the rupiah currency and protect the rights of Indonesians who decided to live and work in East Timor.
At least 460,000 people have been registered inside and outside East Timor to participate in the ballot.
Xanana said if the vote favored proindependence, a transitional government would set up a five-year development plan starting from the year 2000.
Xanana shied away from the issue of disarmament despite the continuing violence that rocked the former Portuguese colony.
Five days before the ballot only a few symbolic gestures of arms surrender have been carried out by the prointegration militia. The proindependence militia, Falintil, has said it would not give up its arms to the Indonesian Military.
In his eight-page statement covering at least 15 points, Xanana called for the East Timorese to reconcile their differences and uphold national unity. He declared a fight against illiteracy and promised empowerment of the society as well as a self-sufficient economy based on a market economy with selective intervention from the state.
He declared that solidarity with the Portuguese people is unbreakable.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported from Vatican City that Pope John Paul on Wednesday called for reconciliation in East Timor and for an end to recent violence in Ambon, Maluku.
Speaking at his weekly general audience, the pontiff said he hoped the people of East Timor would be moved by "a sincere desire to work for reconciliation and contribute to healing the painful wounds of the past".
In the East Timor capital of Dili, a sea of people from all walks of life took to the streets marking the last day of campaigning for the proindependence faction for Monday's landmark vote on the territory's future.
Except for a traffic accident that killed two students and brief tension near a pro-integration office, the rally went without any trouble. Men and women, boys and girls, youths and elders mingled in a cheerful parade, which was flagged off at the National Resistance Council for an Independent East Timor (CNRT) headquarters in Lesidere subdistrict.
Days of street rallies finally claimed lives with the deaths of Lorenzo Fernandez, a 16-year-old student of a state-run junior high school, and a vocational school student, Alberto Gamma Pinto, also 16. A garbage truck that carried them in the parade capsized when it took a bend and fell on the teenagers on Jl. Abilio Monteiro in downtown Dili.
Twelve other passengers were injured and admitted to Dili General Hospital and Montael polyclinic. Spokesman for provincial police Capt. Widodo said the driver, Antonio de Jesus, was arrested on charges of negligence.
"Do or die for independence," the participants of the motorcade repeatedly shouted.
Displaying pictures of CNRT president Xanana Gusmao and waving the council's blue, white and green flag, the crowd danced and sang patriotic songs during the two-hour function at the CNRT office. Some of the songs were banned in the past.
The people yelled with their hands clenched in a victory sign in response to spirited speeches delivered by proindependence figures, who included Manuel Carrascalao. A recorded speech by self-exiled leader Jose Ramos-Horta was also played to the audience.
Manuel, who has been in hiding in Jakarta since an assault that killed his 17-year-old son in April, told the proindependence crowd to refrain from taking revenge for a series of attacks from the opposing side.
Meanwhile, a planned meeting between leaders of pro-Jakarta militia and proindependence armed wing Falintil was postponed. A member of the Commission for Security and Stability (KPS), Koesparmono Irsan, said the Falintil leaders cited security reasons for not turning up for the meeting.
KPS chief Djoko Sugianto said the meeting was rescheduled for Thursday. (06/33/byg/amd)