NZ legislators to be welcomed as guests in Timor

NZ legislators to be welcomed as guests in Timor

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia will welcome New Zealand members of
parliament who intend to visit East Timor, but asked them to be
good guests and avoid acting as investigators.

"If they should come here, they will be our guests and they
should therefore act as such. They will not be here to
investigate," Ministry of Foreign Affairs chief spokesman Irawan
Abidin told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Their visit should focus on viewing the achievements in
development made by the province so far and "compare the results
of the 18 years of integration with Indonesia and the 450 years
of Portuguese colonization," he said.

Press reports of a parliamentary hearing in Wellington suggest
that New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bolger indicated that New
Zealand could not guarantee the safety of East Timorese who spoke
to MPs during the upcoming visit.

Bolger made the statement in reply to MP Phil Goff who
questioned whether the East Timorese would be able to speak with
whomever they pleased during the visit of the MPs, AFP reported.

"Will it be a condition of that visit that the delegation be
free to speak with whomever they wish,... and will it be a
condition that those spoken to will not be subject to subsequent
forms of reprisal?" Goff asked.

Irawan, who said he had not received any information
concerning the visit, which, according to AFP is scheduled for
Aug. 18 to Sep. 13, said the safety of East Timorese was not the
central issue.

"It is not a matter of guaranteeing safety, but more a matter
of the intention of the MPs," he said, pointing out that the
program for the guests will be made after consultations with
various government agencies.

"I personally cannot accept the idea that they will roam
around East Timor to look for things that are irrelevant to the
nature of their visit," Irawan said.

Judgment

He underlined that the MPs should not bring a biased judgment
to East Timor.

Irawan added that Indonesia is not worried if the MPs
determine the East Timorese they will meet.

"We know that some will have negative things to say and some
otherwise. But it is general knowledge that the majority of East
Timorese accept the integration, and the MPs may find that out as
well during their visit," he said.

PM Bolger brought up the question of alleged human rights
violations in East Timor during his recent visit to Indonesia.
President Soeharto responded by inviting New Zealand MPs to visit
the province.

Bolger had also suggested that the MPs visit other parts of
Indonesia as well, for the sake of comparison.

"I think it is a good idea if they visit other parts of
Indonesia, such as neighboring West Timor, for instance, so the
MPs can get an idea of the developments achieved by East Timor,"
Irawan said. (pwn)