No fanfare as East Timor joins UN
No fanfare as East Timor joins UN
Agencies, Dili/United Nations
East Timor becomes the 191st member of the United Nations on Friday, an historic day for the world's newest nation after a bloody transition from Indonesian rule, but East Timorese complain it will pass virtually unnoticed in their own land. No flag-raising ceremony or traditional Timorese dancing or drum beating has been planned in the capital Dili or the outer reaches of the half island territory which has been under UN administration for more than three years.
It joins the United Nations just weeks after Switzerland, which was voted in on Sept. 10 after the Swiss people voted to seek membership in a March referendum.
Ordinary East Timorese expressed their dismay at the lack of fuss over the event and at the apparent apathy of political leaders.
"I am extremely disappointed with the government -- they have not been transparent in declaring or publicizing it. I only heard about it from the radio and newspapers," said 55 year-old Gabriel da Costa.
"We, the East Timorese, are proud of this day and I think it deserves a celebration," he added.
Also dissatisfied, 30-year-old Antonio Rangel said: I'm really happy to hear East Timor finally becoming a member of the United Nations but I am awfully disappointed with the government as there is no ceremony to celebrate this big day."
The first act of East Timor's 88-member parliament after it was elected in April was to sign the UN Universal Declaration of Human rights and apply to join the United Nations.
The nation of 760,000 people is Asia's most impoverished, and the 20th poorest in the world.
"To most Timorese, UN membership is not a big deal at all. It was on the front page of both major newspapers today but no one is really talking about it," said the official, who did not wish to be named.
"But the East Timorese leadership is taking this very seriously and has sent a very senior delegation to New York."
President Xanana Gusmao, Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and Foreign Minister Jose Ramos-Horta were due to attend the ceremony at the United Nations.
Gusmao was due to address the UN General Assembly after the formal vote is taken to admit its latest member. Later in the day, East Timor's flag will be raised at a ceremony in front of UN headquarters.
Meanwhile, East Timor's president said he would not advise other regions to use armed struggles as their route to independence.
"I will tell them to try everything to achieve a peaceful solution. We tried, we didn't only fight," East Timor's former resistance leader and new president, Gusmao, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday in New York.
Separatists in Indonesia's westernmost Aceh province as well as Papua province and the Maluku islands are struggling to follow in East Timor's footsteps.
"It is difficult to have a military solution, they must do their best to achieve a peaceful solution. A peaceful solution can forge mutual respect and understanding," he said.
Ramos-Horta, said during a public briefing a day earlier that no government in East Timor would be "adventurous enough to offer support for independence for Papua or Aceh."
Ramos-Horta advised the provinces to accept autonomy as a step toward their goals, adding that Indonesia should also decline from using force against them.
Gusmao stressed that ties with Indonesia, which exports almost 80 percent of East Timor's supplies, were important to his desperately poor country.
"We cannot forget that even though we have Australia as a close neighbor, the closest is Indonesia. We have to respect the processes in Indonesia," he said.