Megawati to get guarded Timor welcome

Megawati to get guarded Timor welcome

Dean Yates, Reuters, Dare, East Timor

Lurdes da Cruz fights back tears as she thinks about the
suffering endured by East Timor's people during harsh Indonesian
occupation.

But the feisty founder of a Christian institute welcomes
Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri's plan to fleetingly
attend ceremonies marking East Timor's independence with other
foreign leaders at midnight on Sunday.

"Her presence here will be good although we pray she will
understand the feelings of others in Indonesia who want to be
free. It's their right, their dream," da Cruz said, referring to
mainly Muslim Indonesia's rebellious provinces of Papua and Aceh,
her voice cracking with emotion.

Despite Indonesia's 24-year iron rule, Timorese on the streets
of Dili and in Dare village high up in the hills overlooking the
capital are ready to give Megawati a guarded welcome, saying her
visit shows Jakarta has finally accepted their independence.

There are mixed feelings over whether Megawati should
apologize to East Timor - some see it as meaningless - while few
expect any protests over her flying, late-night stopover.

But Jakarta is taking no chances over possible trouble and
military officials said on Friday some 2,000 troops and six extra
navy vessels would be on standby in neighboring Indonesian West
Timor should they be needed.

East Timor broke away from Indonesia in 1999 through a UN-
sponsored ballot after an occupation in which an estimated
200,000 people, or a quarter of the population, died as a result
of military repression, famine and disease.

A passionate nationalist, Megawati was a leading critic of the
decision to allow the territory to break away.

The independence vote sparked violence by pro-Jakarta militias
who killed 1,000 people, according to UN estimates. The United
Nations has been administering East Timor ever since.

Megawati will only stay in Dili for several hours and will
also pay homage at a cemetery for Indonesian soldiers who died
during the occupation. East Timor's president-elect Xanana
Gusmao, the territory's former guerrilla leader who has made a
point of repairing ties with his giant neighbor, will accompany
her.

"Her visit is appropriate. The past is the past, we need to
work together," said Justiano de Jesus, a journalist and youth
activist.

"It will show Indonesia accepts East Timor's independence."
Added Antonio Santos, an unemployed university graduate:

"She is welcome. I agree with Xanana's policy on Indonesia."

Megawati's predecessor Abdurrahman Wahid visited East Timor in
early 2000 and apologized for Jakarta's abuses.

But many Indonesian politicians are opposed to Megawati
attending the independence celebrations, saying it will offend
war veterans and families of Indonesian soldiers killed here.

On Friday, about 150 war widows and veterans staged a noisy
but peaceful demonstration outside the presidential palace in
Jakarta to oppose Megawati's visit.

Timorese will mark independence almost to the day four years
ago that their nemesis, former Indonesian President Soeharto,
stepped down on May 21, 1998, as rioting and economic chaos
gripped his country.

Soeharto ordered the invasion of East Timor in 1975 after the
withdrawal of the Portuguese colonial administration.

Indonesia built roads and schools across East Timor but the
climate of fear and persecution of anyone sympathetic to
independence guaranteed Timorese would always vote for the chance
to break free, which they did in droves in 1999.

And much of that development amounted to little when most was
destroyed by the Indonesian military-backed militias.