Manila moves to defuse rift with RI
JAKARTA (JP): President Fidel Ramos is sending a special envoy to Indonesia to defuse a diplomatic rift caused by Manila's plan to host a conference on East Timor later this month.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas announced yesterday that a special envoy from the Philippines' president will arrive on Monday to discuss the matter to him.
The controversial conference is to take place at the state-run Philippines University from May 31 to June 2.
It is being organized by the National Council for Maubere Resistance, a parent organization that consists of several East Timor separatist movements, including the Fretilin.
Indonesia has reacted strongly against the proposed conference being held within the borders of one of its closest allies and neighbors. The two countries are also fellow founders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) which also groups Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.
The foreign ministry's director of information, Irawan Abidin, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that the government was unhappy with the holding of the conference.
"We are deeply concerned at it," he said, inferring that the situation could reflect on the close ties between the two countries.
Efforts to suppress any deterioration of bilateral ties were immediately taken upon knowledge of the conference schedule.
Philippine Vice President Joseph Estrada and Foreign Secretary Roberto Romulo, who were in South Africa to attend the presidential inauguration, promptly met with Alatas, who was also in attendance on behalf of President Soeharto.
During the meeting Estrada refuted any government involvement.
In Manila, President Ramos himself reiterated Manila's long- standing position of acknowledging East Timor as an integrated part of Indonesia.
He also expressed his confidence that relations between the two countries could withstand this little "irritation."
Alatas said yesterday he would wait until Monday's meeting with the Philippine envoy before commenting further on the matter.
The conference organizers themselves have suffered setbacks in the last couple of days with the pullout of key speakers Danielle Mitterrand, the wife of France's President, Francois Mitterrand, and Portugal's first lady, Maria Barrosa.
Neither Maria Barrosa nor Danielle Mitterrand, a well-known crusader for human rights, have given specific reasons for their cancellations.
Coincidentally, the cancellation of Mrs. Mitterrand comes on the heels of a US$17 million defense contract awarded by Indonesia to French company GIAT over British rival Royal Ordinance.
Portugal
Upon his arrival from South Africa yesterday, Alatas strongly voiced his resentment at the reception faced by a group of East Timorese Indonesians who are on a holy pilgrimage to Portugal.
Indonesia's ambassador-at-large for East Timor Affairs, Fransicus Lopez da Cruz, and his entourage of 41 Roman Catholic pilgrims were met by riotous demonstrators upon their arrival in Lisbon on Tuesday.
The pilgrims were pelted with eggs and called "traitors" by the protesters, who were all wearing black T-shirts.
"I am stunned that these actions could not be prevented by the local police," Alatas said.
The reception in Lisbon was in stark contrast to the warm welcome a group of 24 Portuguese East Timorese got when they made a "family visit" to Indonesia last month.
Exchanges of visits between the two countries were agreed upon as part of the Confidence Building Measures in the talks sponsored by UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali in New York last September.
Alatas went on to warn that such provocation would seriously threaten the Confidence Building Measures.
Indonesia will think twice before continuing the measures, Alatas warned. (mds)