Megawati inaugurates new projects in Kupang

Yemris Fointuna, The Jakarta Post, Kupang

President Megawati Soekarnoputri symbolically inaugurated on Sunday a number of development projects worth more than Rp 704 billion in East Nusa Tenggara province.

The projects, financed by the state budget and foreign loans, included the Rp 150 billion Tilong bridge in Kupang regency, and the Benenain and Alkani bridges in the town of Belu, both valued at Rp 8.1 billion.

Other projects that were inaugurated included irrigation works in Kupang, East Flores, South Central Timor, North Central Timor and Manggarai, all worth a total of Rp 94 billion.

On the same day, Megawati also officially opened a Rp 300 billion cement factory and ferry port in Teluk Gurita in Kupang, and several elementary and junior high school buildings worth a total of Rp 16 billion.

After the inauguration ceremony, the President, accompanied by her husband Taufik Kiemas, returned to Denpasar on the resort island of Bali to fly to Timor Lorosae to attend its independence celebrations.

Also accompanying Megawati were a number of cabinet members, including Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno, Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsah, Minister of Manpower Yacob Nuwa Wea and State Secretary Bambang Kesowo.

Among the entourage were also former foreign affairs minister Ali Alatas, and senior legislators from Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Arifin Panigoro and Mangara Siahaan.

Meanwhile, Ali Alatas suggested that East Nusa Tenggara should no longer seek rights to conduct oil and gas exploration in the Timor Gap after Timor Lorosae's independence.

He was responding to calls by the East Nusa Tenggara administration and the provincial legislative council, as well as local activists, for the central government to reopen talks on the Timor Gap.

Alatas was quoted by Antara as saying the agreement between Indonesia and Australia on the Timor Gap had expired, requiring the country to stop demanding a share of the oil there.

Theoretically, the Timor Gap was part of Timor Lorosae territory, he argued.

What needed to be pursued by Indonesia, however, was the opening of talks with the new Timor Lorosae government on the maritime border, said Alatas, who was serving as foreign minister when the former Indonesian province voted to secede on Aug. 30, 1999.

He urged East Nusa Tenggara's government not to be pessimistic about the possibility of more revenues from outside the Timor Gap as the Timor Sea had the potential to generate huge revenues for the province.

Alatas did not specify where the potential lay, however.

Since Timor Lorosae voted to break away from Indonesia, East Nusa Tenggara has been striving to obtain a share of the Timor Gap's resources.

The struggle has won the support of all elements in the province, including politicians and activists from non- governmental organizations.

The province's legislative council has even asked the local government to allocate funds for a special working committee to take responsibility for the campaign.