No special autonomy for East Timor: Alatas

No special autonomy for East Timor: Alatas

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas rejected
yesterday South African President Nelson Mandela's call to award
special autonomy to East Timor to end prolonged conflict over the
territory.

"The idea of granting special autonomy regional status for
East Timor is one that can neither be implemented nor accepted by
Indonesia for various reasons," Alatas said after meeting with
President Soeharto at Soeharto's residence on Jl. Cendana in
Central Jakarta.

After meeting with Nobel Prize laureate Dili Bishop Carlos
Filipe Ximenes Belo of East Timor in Johannesburg on Tuesday,
Mandela urged Indonesia to give more opportunity for East
Timorese to govern themselves.

Mandela said that during his visit to Indonesia in July, he
had conveyed to President Soeharto that "autonomy should be given
to the people of East Timor".

During his visit, Mandela met with jailed East Timorese rebel
leader Jose Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmao. Xanana is currently
serving a reduced 20-year jail sentence in Jakarta.

Soeharto agreed to Mandela's offer to assist Indonesia in
finding an international solution to the province. However,
Indonesian officials insisted that the initiative would be
strictly based on "quiet diplomacy".

Jakarta was upset when Mandela's letter to Soeharto was
"leaked" to the Portuguese Embassy in Pretoria. In the letter
Mandela urged Soeharto to release Xanana, a request refused by
Jakarta because it regarded Xanana as a criminal.

Alatas remarked that East Timor already enjoyed autonomy along
with other regions, and that the government was willing to look
at what it could do to give greater autonomy to the province.

"The concept of autonomy must be based on prevailing laws," he
said.

East Timor integrated into Indonesia in 1976, after Portugal
abandoned it in 1974. But the United Nations still regards Lisbon
as East Timor's administrative power.

"Indonesia has never and will never consider special autonomy
for East Timor," Alatas added.

Alatas met with Soeharto yesterday to report about his planned
trip to Venezuela and Cuba before attending the UN General
Assembly meeting in New York.

"In Venezuela we will sign a special cooperation agreement
between Antara news agency and the Venezuelan news agency, while
in Cuba, a bilateral agreement on mutual consultations," said
Alatas who will be leaving on Sept. 12.

While in New York, Alatas will meet with Ung Huot, who was
recently elected as Cambodian first prime minister. (prb)